I grew up in a small town just outside Hastings in Hawke’s Bay. My Mom and Dad had an orchard, so I spent my life till I was about 12 years old, on an orchard. It wasn’t remote; I don't think there are too many areas in New Zealand that are actually remote. It might seem that way to people, but there's usually a town or a city only an hour's drive away.

I don't know if it's the altitude or if it’s the incredibly fresh and crisp air, but you get quite a buzz flying into Queenstown. You've got The Remarkables [mountain range] right there, and you're in the center of the mountains. It's impressive. I never get sick of it. If you ever want to impress someone, that's the way to do it; you can’t take a bad photo — it's so beautiful. From Queenstown you have all these environments so close to each other. You're not far from the coast, you're close to the mountains, to the rivers and the lakes. The landscape is extreme, and there are hardly any people there. Even when it's busy, it's not that busy. The landscape looks unpolluted, and for the most part, it's a very safe place to be. Because of all these things, the standard of living is very high. 

I think it's a small-island attitude — that we have to prove we’re just as good as anywhere else. I remember living in Denmark, and they had a similar feeling of needing to prove something to the rest of the world. People want to be recognized as being good at what they do, so I think they try a lot harder. There’s also that ‘do it yourself’ attitude in New Zealand, out of necessity.

The creative community here is small — everybody knows everybody — and it's competitive. If you were good, it did feel as though you had to go overseas to prove yourself, because the market was bigger. And so, many of us left. It’s a bit different now because of globalization, and with social media. You don't have to be in those major centers, necessarily. I think there's a lot of young creatives now who have international clients, but they work from New Zealand. Someone like architect Rufus Knight has a practice in Auckland, but he has clients from all around the world. I don't think that would have happened 10 to 20 years ago.

People say there is a difference culturally, but I don’t think the country is big enough. It's not like the US where there are 50 states and you could call them different countries. Certainly it’s colder in the South Island and warmer in the North Island. 

There are no snakes. I mean there is hardly anything that can kill you in New Zealand. It's just idyllic. Growing up in New Zealand, we would just go charging through the bush when we were kids because there was nothing to fear. But now that I live in Australia, sometimes I'll be out on a shoot and I'll start walking through long grass and my assistant will look at me like I am crazy. I still have to check myself.

I had no real interest in art at school. I come from a working-class family, so there were no expectations to head to university. I was probably going to be a plumber or a sparky [electrician], or builder. Most of my friends worked at the abattoirs or in horticulture. But I left Hawke's Bay and did a cadetship at a bank. I spent two days a week at university studying commerce and worked the other three days at the bank. I did that for a year and a half and realized it wasn't my thing. One of the clients at the bank was a wedding photographer and he was quite a flamboyant character. He also made a lot of money — I could see how much he made. I got to know him and started taking pictures on the weekend as one of his freelance photographers. He taught me how to shoot. 

With all skills, but especially creative skills, communication is the key. If you can't communicate with the people you’re working with, it's not going to work. You learn to work with people because part of your job is to create a situation where they have a good time and feel comfortable. 

I came to Australia in 1986 and lived here for about a year. And then I was employed as a stills photographer on a few films in New Zealand, and the producer wanted me to do the stills on this film in France. So, in 1987 I went over to France. It was an amazing commission to work on this film for six months. After that I didn’t want to come back to New Zealand just yet, so I lived in London for a few years. Then I came back to Australia, and then I lived in the States — in LA and New York — and then Copenhagen and Munich. Just following my career and going to different places.

For the soul, for anyone, travel is part of the human condition. We were hunter-gatherers, and I think that mentality has stayed with us. We are inquisitive. We want to go somewhere we haven't been before, out of curiosity. For me, creatively, seeing new cultures and being somewhere I've never laid eyes on before is very stimulating. I can't help myself. I'll go anywhere.

I've done a couple of shoots for a French magazine called Mastermind. They commissioned me to go to Japan to photograph the places that inspired Hayao Miyazaki, the famous Japanese animator and master storyteller who founded Studio Ghibli. He's like the Walt Disney of Japan. He basically gave me a piece of paper that listed the places around the country that inspired him to write these classic animated films, and they ranged from places up north, right down to Yakushima Island in the south. That was an amazing commission. The culture in Japan is so different to our own, and I was going to places where I was the only non-Japanese person there. I found immersing myself in other cultures so inspiring.

There's a place called Nevis Valley. It’s off State Highway 6 out of Queenstown. You need a 4WD to get into the valley. Only about three families live there now. There are a few miners’ huts, as it was a big gold mining area, but it's barren now. The landscape is beautiful, serene and quiet, and there's no one there. I love going for a day trip. I've photographed that quite a bit and I've got a series called Fool’s Gold that's based around the valley and looking for gold in New Zealand. There are lots of tracks in and out of the gold mine. I like going up those tracks and having a look around and photographing them.

I always stay at the Sherwood; it's a hotel in Queenstown. All the food’s organic, sourced locally, or they grow it in their garden. There's a nice bar, they have bands that play, and the motel looks out over Lake Wakatipu [Whakatipu Wai-māori]. The vibe is very relaxed, and a lot of creative people stay there. A lot of production companies use it when they're shooting films or commercials. It’s a creative hub in Queenstown. 

Go for a drive to the top of the lake towards Glenorchy. That's a small village that leads you into a place called Paradise, which is an area up by the Dart River [Te Awa Whakatipu] and the start of the Routeburn Track. You can park and walk as far into it as you want — 5km, 10km, 20km along a river, through beech forest. It's the most beautiful scenery you're going to experience.

I like going back to places I don't feel I captured well — I'm always thinking maybe I can do better. Nevis Valley is one. I also like heading out towards the glacial Blue Pools, which is past Lake Wānaka; you can swim and walk and then stay in these A-frame cabins at Wonderland Makarora Lodge. I like going to Danseys Pass, which is just out of a small town in Central Otago. You can go for a drive and there's hardly anybody there. There’s a great place to stay called Danseys Pass Hotel; it's an old miners’ pub that has been there for hundreds of years. I like going to Poolburn Dam, which is a drive out of a small one-strip town called Ophir. There’s another great place to stay there called Pitches Store. There aren’t many tourists in Central Otago; it's kind of the undiscovered part of the South Island that I recommend people visit.

In Lake Ōhau, there's a ski lodge right on the lake called Lake Ōhau Lodge. It's got about 70 rooms. It's a big, old-school lodge, straight out of the 1970s. It's like The Shining. If you stay at the lodge in the ski season, you can ski at the private ski field. There's a chalet up the top, with a fireplace going and you can get a meal there. It’s a real ski-club sort of vibe. I believe some European ski teams, like the Italians and the French, go there in their off-season to train — that's how good the skiing is.

My must-do experience would be to go on one of the many walks. My favourites are Routeburn, Milford, Lake Waikaremoana, Hollyford and the Tongariro. Some of these can be done in a day, others can take up to a week. It's the best way to really experience the natural world of Aotearoa.

Manaakitanga, for me, is about respect and kindness in the care of others. For me, part of that respect is to learn as much as I can about Māori culture in Aotearoa.

New Zealand is special to me because of the connection I have with the land and the people of Aotearoa.

I'm an aisle person, only because I don’t like having to climb over other people. But it's a compromise because I want to look out the window too. 

Uplifting. 

The South Island is refreshing, physically and mentally. It cleans you out. It makes you feel fresh and open, and just relaxes you. If you don't enjoy yourself in New Zealand, I don't think there's many places you're going to have a good time.