We specialise in this work by shooting high aspect ratio panorama files from numerous high resolution files stitched together.  A recent one was 26 metres long – an aspect ratio of 1:11 height to width! That’s dealing with the top of the pyramid of images – very few files can go this size.  Luckily we have many panoramas in stock that can, often made from 6+ high res files stitched for maximum quality.
Here’s the crazy 26 metre wide install (link to the original photo). Photo file was well north of 1000MB in size:

And a beautiful HUGE boardroom graphic (original image link here):

Another huge supergraphic scale mural install – this one at 13 metres wide. Again very few files can handle this high width to height ratio.  You definitely wouldn’t want to take a traditional format file and crop it to this aspect ratio, throwing most of the data away, before having to enlarge to massive size – more top of the pyramid file selection needed here. This one was shot on medium format digital camera with multiple frames stitched.  Both of the above were printed and installed by the folks at Frosted Glass by Design. Here’s a link to the original file

And an interesting recent install onto a boardroom sectional door for a maritime based company. You can’t see here, but the whole decor of the wider zone hangs off the mural hues.

It’s a mind bending experience to see something like this.  The view goes on as far as you can see in three directions, and the unseen depth below the waves in incomprehensible.

A23a iceberg seen from ship

The only way to conjure up an image to this was to think of standing two of our ships end on end and plunging them down below the surface vertical, that would be getting close to the hidden vertical dimension below us!

Rob Suisted, talking about A23a Iceberg to camera, for EYOS expeditions

Our visit created a worldwide interest and many of our photographs travelled the world via news agencies like Reuters, BBC, CNN, and a nice piece in New Zealand Geographic etc

This article in NZ Geo has some great information about it’s life, journey and death:

If you need more images of A23a iceberg, check these out in our collection.

The splashing and commotion caused a large collection of Mollymawks (small albatrosses) to arrive and battle over any morsels flung from the grisly massacre taking place.

Travelling around by boat I discovered this feeding activity associated with every shallower undersea mount in an otherwise 300m deep sea

It was a unique experience to visit the area, often far too inhospitable to visit in small vessels, and to hang out with wildlife not often seen close to shore like these beautiful Mollymawks

To see more frostfish massacre images go here, and Mollymawk images here.

Below are a few example pages and a brief explanation of the design and photographic themes involved…

The sections were based around light based themes, ‘lighting the way’, ‘laser-focused research’, ‘bright spots’, ‘full spectrum’ and ‘illuminating the path’.  So it was appropriate that we settled on dark themed cover and section heads, adding light in as appropriate to the theme.  This also ties to the cover image above, representing the dark lightless landscape, with city scale built environment behind a rudimentary personal shelter, the basis of all building we need. This dark theme leads on through the document.

Here are two of them, the bottom green one captures a study using lasers to understand house ventilation better.

Illustration of real world issues and problems like ventilation and condensation often had very literal images, but that approach does not really add to the story. For instance, school ventilation is a vital issue for Covid management and an issue investigated by BRANZ, so rather than basic photos of open windows we created much nicer to real world scenarios showing opening windows being used, such as this:

Illustrating concepts of ventilation, good practice, lung health and research

BRANZ supporting science literacy in schools.

Mental health and suicide prevention is an identified risk in the construction industry, and is now getting better attention.

Original file is here, and the other tattoo photos are here.

This one stood out today, printed on Contra Vision film (perforated window film often seen on buses) and applied to a large boardroom glass wall.

It looks so realistic that we wonder how many people might accidentally try to walk through it?  Original photo, Nelson Lakes National Park track, at: https://www.naturespic.com/newzealand/image.asp?id=25963

“While documenting sea-level rise, Rob Suisted attempted to create an image that showed the built environment under attack at the coast. “Hence the focus on the dynamic battle of textures and energy in the foreground,” says Suisted, “while homes sit above as benign observers seeming oblivious to the changes happening.”
Click to go vote for your favourites amongst some outstanding work now

Here’s the original photo file that was used to print direct to glass by Thermaseal in Christchurch with an advanced ceramic printer

NZ Story Portraits of, Ocean Mercier, Meng Foon, Linda Shum, Kirsten Wong with Gordon Wu

These are portraits of I’ll explain them in more detail below…

Ocean Mercier, Super Conductor

Dr Ocean Mercier become the first Māori woman to earn a doctorate in physics, with a thesis on superconducting materials.  Soon, she became a superconductor herself—a powerful conduit between stories, people and knowledge, between Western science and mātauranga Māori, traditional knowledge. Mercier is now head of Te Kawa a Māui, the School of Māori Studies at Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University of Wellington. So it was very appropriate to photograph her at the Victoria University Marae.  My goal was to project Matariki (the Pleiades) into the ceiling of the wharenui as a connection of  mātauranga Māori to physics and whakapapa. It became very serendipitous that she was standing beside Te Rangihiroa (Sir Peter Buck). You can read more about Ocean here: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/charting-a-new-course/

Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner

Meng Foon, well known as the respected and long standing Mayor of Gisborne, and recently NZ’s Race Relations Commissioner.  A big part of Meng’s work is to positively influence the next generation, so working with school children was a key to my story portrait. A principal friend was very keen to get involved, and her school in Ngaio had, by chance, just started a school wide look at what it was to be a ‘Kiwi’.  So we all worked together to make this shoot work – Meng working with the next generation to better understand who we are going forward. Read the portrait about Meng Foon in NZ Geo.

Lynette Shum, Kirsten Wong, Gordon Wu, NZ Chinese Societies

The Story of the SS Ventnor wreck, the Ghost Ship of the Hokianga, is fascinating from so many angles.  But mostly for the history of Chinese in NZ. At the heart of this story is the Societies formed by early Chinese immigrants to look after their passage home if the worst should happen.  These Societies still exist today and are actively involved in the new issues developing from this wreck. I had to portray their roles for this article, in a style to fit the other portraits. Lynette Shum (left) is secretary of the Poon Fah Association, the association still holds the Cheong Shing Tong’s record of burials, and its Wellington premises remains a centre for community activity. I wanted her portrait to reflect her community role. Kirsten Wong and Gordon Wu have long been involved in Ventnor research. They are executive members of the Tung Jung Association, which was incorporated in 1926 for people from the Tung Gwoon (Donguan) and Jung Seng (Zengcheng) counties. The Tung Jung memorial was built in 1965 as a place for members to pay respects to their ancestors and village cousins and to reaffirm their community ties. It ties to the story of connection and memory. Gordon holds the list of remains on the Ventnor he re-discovered. The full story is here: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/ghost-ship-of-the-hokianga/

Visit NZ Geo to read the article online now.  Otherwise, browse the gallery below to … journey through the images I shot for the story, covering the 5 main projects underway currently

Here are most of the images entered.

Receiving award from sponsor Nikon NZ’s Richard Greasley. Photo Richard Robinson

Being interviewed on stage about my photo entries and the work behind the scenes. Photo Richard Robinson

The full display of winners can be seen here. The collection of best photography in NZ for 2019 – a must view: https://www.nzgeo.com/photography/photographer-of-the-year-2019-winners/

I’d like to give a big thank you to all the sponsors, and to New Zealand Geographic for hosting the give event in the photography calendar.

Have a look through the great collection of other finalists this year. Grab a coffee and vote for your favs at: https://www.nzgeo.com/photography/finalists/

Individual images are

Dairy farmland in early morning autumn light. Dairy cows and herd grazing on lush pasture, Sanson, Manawatu District, Manawatu-Wanganui Region, New Zealand (NZ). (c) Rob Suisted. Image ID: 60985GL00

Canterbury plains agricultural mosaic landscape of dairy farming and cropping. Post wheat harvest stubble burn off, a normal management tool for preparing next planting. Aerial view, square format, Methven, Ashburton District, Canterbury Region, New Zealand (NZ) (c) Rob Suisted. Image ID: 58952GL00

Short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) flying at night, with mouth open indicating it’s using echolocation to navigate (lesser short-tailed bat – pekapeka-tou-poto), Pureora Forest, Waitomo District, Waikato Region, New Zealand (NZ). (c) Rob Suisted. Image ID: 60588LB00

Have a look at more of our native fish here.
Many thanks to Forest and Bird for giving this species, and their plight, a big push.

Here’s a look at the other tattoo, and here are some of Rob Suisted’s amazing NZ native falcon images. This series of NZ falcon images has had some interesting uses by the way!

We have a large selection of stock images that work well at massive sizes (shot on medium format digital and professionally stitched into massive files) which are suitable for quality exhibition backdrops, and branding displays.

Rob does commissioned photographs too, and we did a couple of massive murals for Honda Power & Marine this year. Can you spot the celebrity in one of them?

NZ’s first man of fishing checking out boat’s while Rob checks out a mural we created to sell outboard engines to commercial users

Nope, not Clark Gayford, although Rob let him know he wasn’t stalking him, he happened to be in shot of one of the professionally stitched panorama’s we did for Honda. Kate the Corgi made her debut appearance, a little know fact outside the breeding clubs, Corgi’s are a cattle herding dog breed.

Kate the Corgi – Rob’s fearsome cattle dog was added to the frame – a great distraction for kids while mum and dad talk gear, at Honda Power and Marine’s Fieldays stand

NIWA’s stand was very eye catching with their clever use of one of our large panorama files:

NIWA’s simple but beautifully designed stand created with an image we created to fit dimensions. Simply cropping a photo to shape and enlarging just ‘doesn’t cut the mustard’. Here we worked with the designer to create a huge image file to fit ratio specs – thereby minimising cropping and maximising output resolution

We had some great feedback from The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), who were very happy with the quality and feel of our images. It was great to work with Adam from Station Creative on the MPI stand this year, he’s very much into quality too, so a successful Fieldays for 2018 across the board.

Check out feedback we’re recieved from some of our mural clients.

My dad’s school project from 1953, signed 29 years later by Sir Ed Hilliary

Then I found another gem – a crisp new $5 note with the image of Sir Ed.  It was signed for me ‘To Robert, Ed Hillary’. Wow, Dad had asked Ed to do this in 1994.  Pretty neat to have this memento from such a figure in history, and someone who has been an influence and hero in my life.  It took a few moments for this to sink in. Then it dawned on me – the Reserve Bank approached me for about 20 photos to be used on the new bank notes back in 2016, and they used one of these (of Aoraki Mt Cook) to face up beside Sir Edmund Hillary.  That mountain, with my name written over the top, has now been replaced by a photo taken by my own hand and eye.  That seems pretty neat.

Clearly Dad had a huge man love for Sir Ed.  He crossed paths with him a few times, especially while Sir Ed was the NZ high commissioner to India, as Dad was involved with foreign aid development work throughout Asia and India.

Looking back now it seems my father really took Sir Ed’s words, written in his childhood project book, to heart as he went on to be a well known and much loved champion of the arts (especially acting) in NZ, where he helped many others aim high and conquer their own ‘Everests’, including some of our best known and loved actors and directors.

I suspect Dad is also pretty chuffed that Sir Ed now looks at my version of our highest peak Aoraki Mt Cook every day in my wallet.

I’ve learned a heck of a lot more about our big picture agriculture, appropriate land use, precision farming and adding value to our exports to get out of our traditional ‘commodities from the colonies’ history. Stay tuned for the next issue coming very soon – in fact real soon – I had to ride like the wind from the Manawatu late tonight to make deadline for press!