New Zealand. August 2019. It was time to escape winter for tropical climes.

Almost a year on, hopping on a plane to a small South Pacific island just three hours north of our home country, seems like a distant dream.

1 June 2020. The winter begins again…

On 13 March 2020, I headed down to Ohope Beach for the inaugral West End Wiggle longboard comp where I was set to shoot action both in and out of the water the following day on the 14th. Mark (my partner) and I headed down to Whakatane with our good mates Chris & Jess (and Jess’ frother of a Dad who was over from the US at the time) where we settled in for the night with beers, nachos and a few treats from…

But it turns out our wild adventurous souls were destined for grounding with a day on the land and in the shore.

We packed up the car the night before. The surf reports showed swell would be headed our way. But when we arrived at the beach on the cusp of the Coromandel peninsula - that we planned to have a cruisy day at on the logs - just before the break of dawn, the ocean told us it had other plans…

It took me 30 years to journey to New Zealand.

At 18,695km away, and the antipodal point to my home country England, United Kingdom, some might say it’s no surprise I hadn’t set foot on NZ soil yet.

In this journal post, I’ll share with you a little bit about where my passion for nature and photography began and how and why I started LouLouB Photo many years later...