Copyright Mark Lapwood 2024
As a part of the Auckland Festival of Photography - Waiheke Island based Cinematographer Mark Lapwood NZCS ACS will be
exhibiting his unique collection of images, capturing the beauty of Waiheke birds in flight.
In Marks words “I love seeing and capturing moments of extraordinary natural beauty. Our native birds in flight are
beautiful, spectacular and inspiring. We protect what we fall in love with, so I hope this exhibition inspires more
people to fall in love with these gorgeous creatures."
Lapwood moved to the island 5 years ago with his partner Christine and was immediately captivated by the abundant native
bird life there. ‘One day I saw a Kereru perched on this old macrocarpa tree, I grabbed my camera with a long lens and
waited, when the kereru eventually took off, I managed to catch an image with its wings all the way down, revealing the
incredible colours of its feathers. I’d never seen anything like it. Ever since I’ve been hooked, trying to capture the
magic of our native birds in flight’.
This collection of photos includes striking images of Kereru, Tui, Kingfisher, Kaka and Heron, all taken where he lives
in Oneroa on Waiheke.
‘Between film projects, I’ve come to learn some of the birds behaviours, but it’s still really tricky to predict which
way they’ll fly, left, right, up or down. They’re so fast, there’s a bunch of times I miss, but it’s the thrill of the
chase that makes it so rewarding when I finally capture an image that has a magical quality’, says the photographer.
Mark Lapwood is based on Waiheke Island (Auckland), and works professionally as a cinematographer in the film industry.
His career started as a photographer on the Manawatu Evening Standard in 1987. He trained as a cinematographer in Sydney
during the 1990’s, then worked for eight years in Asia, mostly Mumbai (Bombay), India. He returned to New Zealand after
20 years overseas in 2011.
Lapwood’s recent cinematography credits include documentaries ‘Dame Valerie Adams – More Than Gold’ and ‘Stephen Fry -
Willem and Frieda', and his love of still photography continues.
The show opens at Gallery Anomalous on Friday 31st May at 5pm and runs through to June 12th (10am-6pm daily). Register
your interest and find out more details here: https://bit.ly/3Kl7fiJ. 5% of all sales wil be donated to Native Bird Rescue - Waiheke Island.