MICHAEL WONG

It all started in a hospital in the United States. I was a student nurse and working as an assistant in an intensive care unit, right at the bedside with respiratory therapists and nurses who were literally keeping people alive. It was honestly a place of miracles. I couldn't imagine anything more rewarding than working in critical care at that time.

One day, during my maternity rotation, a patient's husband pulled me aside and asked if I could take a candid of them and their baby. I don't remember the picture I took, but I do remember the smiles on their faces and the tears they tried to hold back. That was it. I had never felt the way I did as when I saw how happy they were, and I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do from that day on. I'm forever grateful to Amanda Palar and Laura Conti for making an exception and taking me on as an in-hospital newborn photographer. Unfortunately, about a year later, a certain virus shut down the world.

It was a blessing in disguise that shifted my focus to a variety of genres, my favorite of which became ballet. It was amazing to see the tenacity of those dancers, to experience the precision and timing of their choreography. Knowing that so many hours of training went into perfecting a movement, ones that could only be captured from the right angle at the right moment, they really motivated me to dive deep into the technical aspects of photography. I didn't want to miss a thing. Many thanks to the amazing people in the Boston dance community and especially Natalya Getman and all her dancers of Bossov Ballet Theater.

As for how I ended up in New Zealand, I just happened to fall in love again, this time with an amazing woman who lived on the opposite side of the world.

Since the very beginning, from before I ever even picked up a camera, I've always wanted to help people smile. It’s what brings me joy, so it doesn't really matter what I'm shooting — the most important thing to me is how my clients feel about the images we create together.