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Snapshot: TREFOR WARD

PAST: Born and brought up in Wales, Trefor first started taking photographs at eight. “I used to borrow my dad’s camera (a Kodak Retinette) to take photographs of my Action Man in staged tableaux with my Airfix model planes.” After leaving school, a brief stint working at the tax department convinced Trefor the civil service wasn’t for him, so he enrolled at the Swansea College of Art to study photography. A “brief holiday” to New Zealand in 1986 was instigated by friends in Papakura who invited him to be the photographer at their wedding. “It was a major turning point in my life,” he says. “On the day I arrived,

I met my future wife Tanya (sister of one of the friends).” Trefor has lived in Hamilton since 1992 and has two children, Taliesin (29) and Tanwen (26).

PRESENT: “I enjoy the opportunity that being a photographer gives me to meet a lot of people, get an insight into their lives and learn about what they do,” he says. Life in New Zealand certainly hasn’t been boring for the Welshman. Memorable experiences involve photographing orphans in state-run orphanages in Georgia in the former Soviet Union; accompanying aid agencies delivering food, blankets and cuddly toys to people in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes; covering the 1995 visit of former Prime Minister Jim Bolger to Tūrangawaewae to return the Korotangi to Tainui; and being involved in the nationwide project, New Zealand The Millennium. “It was good to return to Tūrangawaewae to photograph Hinerangi Raumati-Tu’ua for this issue,” he says (see page 62). “Despite the torrential rain, she was very patient and obliging, and we both managed to stay dry.”

FUTURE: Trefor is looking forward to continuing his commercial and editorial photography, undertaking book projects, having exhibitions and going on road trips within New Zealand. “I’m also looking forward to going to Brisbane to visit my son and his partner, who I haven’t seen in person since last November due to Covid-19.” treforward.com

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2021-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thisnzlife.pressreader.com/article/281822876749782

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