My Photography

My strength is people within landscapes – punchy iconic images with the emotional wow factor. Images with a very long life like my sea kayak hero shot, used extensively throughout the world by Tourism New Zealand and partners. Taken in 1992 and still current.

My weakness is in not selling myself. I have preferred to let my photos do the talking. Take a look at my gallery page - [+] click here

In 2005/06 I won a competitive contract to photograph for Tourism NZ - photos now marketing New Zealand to the world. [+] click here (search for Ian Trafford)

Successful tourism operations use my photos in brochures and advertising: Air New Zealand, Kiwi Experience(THL) [+] click here, Feejee Experience, Abel Tasman Aqua Taxis (Ngai Tahu), Abel Tasman Adventures, Awaroa Lodge and Cafe, Destination Marlborough.

Photographed at Fijian kitesurfing event, the Cindy Mosey Island Odyssey with some of the world's top women kitesurfers. [+] click here I am booked in for this years event in Tonga.

Photographed for prestigious multi-national Ecoseagate corporate multisport race run by the worlds biggest manufacturer of hard drives, Seagate. Awesome feedback on photos.

Adventure Race World Championships photography in 2005 and again this year in the highlands of Scotland.

Magazines: On Holiday, New Zealand Life and Leisure, New Zealand Adventure, inflight magazines.

My Writing.

Author of "Day Walks of Nelson" a popular 104 page guide book published by Reed and now in its second print. [+] click here

Written and photographed five high interest books for Learning Media, publishers for school reading programmes. Also many articles for School Journal and Choices series by the same publisher.

Who am I?

Brought up on a farm inland of Gisborne on the East Coast of New Zealand and educated at rural schools in a mostly Maori community.

I taught primary school for a time then moved to adventure tourism, founding and running rafting and sea kayak companies which are still successful today. This lead to my years teaching adventure tourism and outdoor guiding skills to Polytech students.

Photography has been present the whole time. Since school, photography has been part of my life. I am now a poor unfortunate that cannot help but view life and landscape as a series or squares and rectangles.

I submitted my shots to magazines and tourism boards as part of my marketing when in business. Editors and designers loved the images and my professional photography grew from there.