About

As long as I can remember, there’s two things I’ve been passionate about during my life – a love of animals, and photography.

Whether it’s preserving memories for you to love for a lifetime or working with rescues to help their animals get adopted more quickly, being able to combine my two passion’s is nothing short of a dream.

A love of animals

I grew up with cats and loved animals so much that at the young age of 8, I made the decision to go vegetarian, and still am today. I am surrounded by both cats and dogs now, Mooky & The Fuzz, Bear & Cleo – quite the pack and a handful, especially as they are now all seniors, and many have illnesses. But my husband and I love them all the same, maybe even more so, for the way they depend on us so much more to care for them in their senior years and the unconditional love they give.

I feel so very lucky to live in this beautiful place known as, the land of the long white cloud – New Zealand. Based in rural Auckland with access to acres of farmland and the river, there is no shortage of opportunities to capture and preserve beautiful memories of my fur babies.

After recently surviving breast cancer, there was no better time than the present for me to pursue my passion of photography and love of animals, and start living my dream.

A Farm Experience

Wort & Flea Pet Photography is the destination location, where I will capture the love of your fur baby being themselves in beautiful scenic, bold and colourful, personality filled portraits.

If you would like me to capture the love and preserve those special memories of your beloved fur baby, then please contact me to arrange either a rural farmland session, or a session at your favourite location.

With such a love of animals I easily connect with any new fur baby I meet and can easily help put them at ease, their safety and enjoyment my number one priority throughout the session.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me via phone on 0210482463, or email kirsten@wortandflea.co.nz, if you have any further queries or would like to book in your session.

An award winning, Accredited Professional Photographer, with Associate distinction, of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography and a Digital Imaging Advocate for Sony NZ, I am based right in between Waikato & Auckland, New Zealand, but available nationwide!

ACHIEVEMENTS

bernese mountain dog running on the stormy and moody raglan beach with his younger brother following behind

NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards 2022

I entered ten images into the NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards 2022. The NZIPP Iris Professional are organised by the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP). These awards are held annually and are open to all New Zealand and International professional photographers and has been running for more than 35 years! The Awards celebrate the innovation and excellence of professional photography and provides a platform for recognition within the wider photographic community and with the general public. This was my third year entering these awards and I entered the maximum number of images allowed (four per category) into the Portrait Open and Portrait In Camera categories, one into Commercial and one into Nature, a total of ten images. I was incredibly happy to win eight awards, three silver, two bronze and two high professional standard images!
I also obtained my first gold bar for my Associate Distinction.

NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards 2021

I entered eight images into the NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards 2021. The NZIPP Iris Professional are organised by the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP). These awards are held annually and are open to all New Zealand and International professional photographers and has been running for more than 35 years! The Awards celebrate the innovation and excellence of professional photography and provides a platform for recognition within the wider photographic community and with the general public. This was my second year entering these awards and I entered the maximum number of images allowed (four per category) into the Portrait Open and Portrait In Camera categories, a total of eight images, so I was incredibly happy to win eight Bronze awards! Quite an accomplishment for only my second year entering!

I also obtained my Associate Distinction.

tan boxer dog standing on a log on the farm, looking at the camera with his mouth open smiling and beautifully back lit with a gorgeous golden glow coming through the leaves on the trees

Digital Imaging Advocate for Sony NZ

At the beginning of 2020, prior to Covid being introduced to the world, I applied to become a Digital Imaging Advocate (aka brand ambassador) for Sony NZ. Soon after Covid hit putting everything on hold indefinitely. Then in July I was contacted to say I’d been shortlisted and invited to do a presentation at Sony’s Head Office in Auckland. I gave my presentation in August and was given the amazing news I was successful. Sony’s first Pet Photographer, Digital Imaging Advocate across Australasia! It became official in November and I’m incredibly proud to say I’m officially a Digital Imaging Advocate for Sony NZ. My first professional interchangeable lens camera was Sony’s official first release the A100, which I still have and it’s original box too! True Sony camera geek at heart. What does this mean for me? It means I get to represent the brand I love, respect and have used for over two decades, in an official capacity. A dream of mine for a very long time and one I’m so incredibly proud to have achieved in such a challenging year. What does it mean for you? I will be running in person workshops and online webinars about pet photography! And if you attend an in person workshop you may even get to try out some Sony camera gear! Send me a message if you’d like to know more about my upcoming workshops. I already have some incredibly exciting things in the pipeline, so roll on 2021!

NZIPP Accredited Professional Photographer

The NZIPP is an internationally recognised organisation established in 1938 and is the only qualifying body for professional photographers in New Zealand. NZIPP Accredited Professional Photographers are recognised as industry leaders. At the beginning of July 2020, I applied under the Specialised category for Pet/Animal. I had to submit a portfolio of 15 images for assessment. 12 out of 15 images were required to pass the above criteria for me to gain accredited status. I’m ecstatic to announce that I received my feedback at the beginning of September 2020 and not only had I passed and gained my Accreditation, but all 15 of my images submitted had passed! Additionally I am only the third photographer in NZ to gain accreditation for specialising in pets/animals only. An accomplishment I’m incredibly proud of. To see more of the images I submitted and learn more about the process, click on the header to read the full blog post!

NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards 2020

I entered ten images into the NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards 2020. The NZIPP Iris Professional are organised by the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP). These awards are held annually and are open to all New Zealand and International professional photographers and has been running for more than 35 years! The Awards celebrate the innovation and excellence of professional photography and provides a platform for recognition within the wider photographic community and with the general public. This was my first year entering these awards and I was so incredibly happy to win one Silver and three Bronze awards! The remaining six images were of Professional Standard, including two that were just one point off Bronze awards!

tan griffon cross dog sitting in the long brown dry grass smiling happily with his ears bent forward

Sony Alpha Animal Portrait Instagram Contest 2019

This image of Gracie was taken in Queenstown at the picturesque Bob’s Cove, early one very cold autumn morning, after being rained out the day prior in Cromwell. Gracie’s parents who had travelled specially to take part, were kind enough to stay overnight for another opportunity the following morning, this time at Bob’s Cove. It feels like everything aligned, following the rain out the day prior, to make this image happen. I entered this image in the Sony Alpha Animal Portrait Instagram Contest and subsequently was announced as one of the five winners across New Zealand and Australia. Also gaining entry into the global competition. A Sony camera user since I started in photography, I couldn’t wait to enter this competition and to be awarded this recognition amongst my peers and fellow Sony camera users is an achievement that I am very proud of. The five global competition winners will be announced at the end of September 2019.