About Us

Hi from Findlater Photography.  We’re Layton and Aileen Findlater, a husband and wife team from Invercargill, New Zealand.  

Why?

We believe professional photography is an investment.  It’s an investment in a service and in a quality end product.  But it’s also an investment in the creation of art.

We believe part of that investment is not only making sure you get good images for your money, but getting something tangible for it as well.  So all our packages come with real photos rather than leaving you to do the printing.  Our images are printed by a specialist using archival paper or canvas.  They’re made to last in every sense of the word. 

Want to share images online or via email?  We’ve got that covered as well.  For all client packages you’ll receive online-ready digital copies of every image you order.

 

So what do we offer you? 

We love to capture people in their environments, to create a “look and feel” and give our client’s images depth. We take a very collaborative approach to our sessions as we prefer an organic and personal result.   We love to experiment and try new things.  Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t.  So make sure to bring along any ideas you have for your session.  This approach injects a wonderful combination of our talent and your personality into your images. 

You have your own story to tell, let us help you tell it.

 

What equipment do we use?

They say equipment doesn’t matter, and to a point that’s true.  It doesn’t matter if you have an expensive camera or a cheap point-and-shoot, if you don’t know what you’re doing or how to get the creative results you’re looking for, you might as well get the cheap camera and stick it on auto.  In saying that, the benefit of higher end cameras with superb quality lenses is that it allows us to carry on taking photos in challenging environments and capture images we would have difficulty getting otherwise. 

Just as we believe professional photography is an investment for you, we also believe by investing in top quality equipment we’re showing a commitment to our clients that we take what we do seriously.

Layton’s a techno geek and loves talking equipment, but to keep it brief we have two full frame Nikon cameras and a range of zoom lenses in the 14mm-200mm focal range. 

We strongly believe lighting can make or break an image. We spend time making sure the lighting is right for you and what we’re trying to create.  Lighting can set the tone of an image, it can create a mood, and it can enhance features and hide others. 

 

And to end on a personal note…

We both come from backgrounds in the creative fields and both have a passion for storytelling and capturing the world around us.  Findlater Photography was set up to manage the photography work from Layton’s prints and has since expanded to include portrait, wedding and commercial photography.  As well as our client packages, our work has been used in commercial brochures, magazines, on a billboard, in a book, bought as artworks, made into postcards, used as stock photos in various media and most recently as the exclusive images in the Invercargill City Council's 2015 calendar.

Layton’s our lead photographer.  Photography has never just been a hobby for him, right from the word go it’s been his obsession.  He got a solid foundation in film photography while studying a Diploma in Computer Graphic Design and has built on that by continually learning and experimenting both with photography and lighting.  His first love is landscape photography (either scenic or urban), and a variety of portrait styles. He’s currently developing his portraits to incorporate his passion for landscapes by offering more of an environmental style portrait.

As they say behind every good photographer is an even better assistant.  That’s where Aileen comes in.  She’s the main contact for our business.  She’s also the 2nd shoot and assistant on photo shoots.  Aileen has a history in film, which has translated well to still photography.  She received a lot of valuable experience from her days as the advertising photographer for the Southland Times; taking photos of products, buildings and staff for adverts.  Her style is more detail orientated preferring to shoot macros, close-ups or details rather than wide shots.  This compliments Layton very well both behind the camera and when she’s assisting.

We don’t have any set hours and usually schedule sessions in the evenings and weekends, however, we’re also available at other times by appointment.  Since we have lighting covered, we have no set shooting times and can work into your schedule, day or night, inside or outside.  We’re a boutique photography company and each and every client is valuable to us.  We offer limited photo sessions each month to make sure you get the attention you deserve.

Head over to our galleries to check out our portfolios.  Although we share a selected few images on this website and update our galleries from time to time, we share most of our images and news on our blog and Facebook page so make sure to also stop by there to see more of our work.

So that’s a little about us now we want to hear from you!

Get in touch today to discuss how we can help you capture those precious moments.

About Us Photo 2014

Photography by: Les Ladbrook