Meet us
Soul Mates. Best Friends. Photographers
We are Phil & Sabella - two peas in a pod, co-founders of ToiToi Photography and parents to a little (loud) boy and a fearless little girl.
Whilst we now call Kapiti home, we have a love for the places we consider our childhood hangouts. For Phil that is Waimate, South Canterbury and for Sabella that is South Wairarapa. We loved growing up in a rural setting.
ToiToi Photography is a small business that allows us to unleash creativity and skill to capture stunning images.
5 Fun Facts
- Favourite dog breed is the Bernese Mountain Dog. We would love to photograph one sometime. If we become successful enough, maybe we'll even own one. That's how we'll know that we've made it in life.
- We got married at Fiordland Lodge near Te Anau (the best wedding we will ever attend... )
- First DSLR camera was the Nikon D3200 with kit lens 18-55mm. Phil is now reminded regularly that we've got enough cameras.
- We spend just as many weekends photographing weddings each year as we do attending our children's friends birthday parties.
- Phil has a small army of feijoa seedlings that were nurtured from the fruit off the neighbour's large overhanging feijoa tree.
I love when natural light falls on a landscape and it evokes a feeling, or creates a memory or a moment between people. Being present and open to the full sensory experience that is being immersed in a scene that carries a life of its own, is for me what photography is all about. It makes us mindful, grateful and grounded.
Business beginnings
How it all started
Photography went hand in hand with Phil's tramping adventures for many years. Phil would make trips centred around arriving at a hut for sunset and being up ready for the sunrise.
The idea of ToiToi Photography came about from a spur of the moment realisation or worry that with the start of fatherhood, Phil may lose this creative outlet. At a similar time, Sabella and Phil were planning their own wedding. A new found love for outdoor portraiture and wedding images in the mountains - we had to give it a go.
Where have we got to now?
Like any new business, the financial aspect is tricky in the beginning. We've worked hard to build a great portfolio and deliver online albums of images that our clients love. Whilst I've had a dabble in wedding videography and enjoyed it, photography is what we enjoy most. We are now branching out to try different styles of photography such as sports, corporate/commercial, events, adventure etc...
We offer a limited number of weddings, family portraits and mini-sessions each year to strike a good balance between work, our family time and ToiToi Photography.
What plans lie ahead?
ToiToi Photography will continue to deliver exceptional wedding photography as its core business. We intend to continue building relationships with other local vendors and provide our community with special offers. There are a few fun projects that we are quietly working on in the background.
We will of course be posting a mixture of content to our Facebook page, from ad-hoc photos of sunsets over Kapiti or other landscape photos from our adventures to our wonderful clients. Like and follow us on Facebook
Luminary Night Stories
This is our summer-time project where we enjoy using light tube painting to elegantly blend human aesthetics and the late evening sky into an image. The technique uses a long exposure. This is yet another way that we have fun with photography.
See the link below to view our images taken so far.
