Adrian Malloch Photography

I first met Roger Te Tai when I photographed his partner, the public speaker and life coach, Sally Anderson, for a story in North & South magazine. We struck up a friendship and over the following years I documented aspects of Roger’s journey connecting back to his place and people. In 2009 he had planned to have his long-planned tā moko tattooed however, it wasn’t to be; the night before his appointment he received a call to say that the tattooist had to go to a family tangi It was another three years before Roger was ready to try again and in the meantime he and Sally were married in Queenstown with his whānau all there, a first for the family for many decades. 2009: Te Hana. The preparation; Roger and Sally ready themselves for the following day's tattoo, only to find it has to be postponed. ––– 2010: Queenstown. The wedding; families come together.––– 2012: Whangarei. The tattoo: by Dave Hart of Native Ink.––– 2014: Ohiwa. Roger Te Tai wears the tā moko. 22nd August 2021, Roger died at his home, the result of a heart condition.

Families are where we are formed as people. Both of these families shown below were photographed as part of my A Day in the Life of Your Family project. The Ebbett family is a busy place where neighbourhood children come and go as if it is their own home, where reading a book in bed with Mum is a perfect start to a day and where children's adventures and curiosity are encouraged. For Frankie's family, the inevitability of palliative care for her terminal cancer means that every moment together is embraced, the joy of life is not taken for granted and everything they do is an expression of their love for each other.

Recent construction photography showing Concrete Logistics' team with the new hybrid EV Putzmeister concrete pump at the Māngere Watercare site and the build of Ockham Residential's Greenhouse Apartments in Grey Lynn. The brief from Ockham was to show the workers, show the work, show how a building is made and show the world what the construction industry does, day in day out.