Welcome to my photography website! Let me introduce myself… I’m Tanya Piejus. I live in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. My current day job is as a writer for the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake and I’m also their in-house photographer.
I started taking photos when I was 9 on a Kodak Instamatic. I graduated through a couple of other point-and-shoots to my mum’s Minolta X700 film camera in my late teens. I learnt black-and-white darkroom processing techniques as a teenager and was a member of Tonbridge Camera Club in the UK for several years where I progressed from beginners’ class 3 to experienced class 1.
I went digital in 2001 with the first Canon Ixus, which I used while traveling around Australia, alongside my X700 with slide film. I’ve always had Canons – a 550D, and now a pair of 80Ds with a variety of zoom and prime lenses. I took a few photography papers at WelTec in Wellington in 2010-12 to improve my technique. I’m now studying for a Diploma in Professional Photography with the Photography Institute.
I particularly enjoy wildlife, travel, landscape, documentary and portrait photography. I regularly take publicity photos and headshots for theatre productions in Wellington. I’ve won a couple of minor photography awards and was runner-up in the international PDN Outdoors photo competition in the wildlife category in 2013.