Auckland

Photography Courses in Auckland

Every New Zealand Photography School course is studied online, so an Auckland student never travels to a classroom. You shoot your assignments where you live, upload the images, and a working photographer writes back with feedback on your actual photographs. From Auckland that means learning exposure on the Waitematā at dawn, composition on the volcanic cones, and low-light technique on Karangahape Road, then having someone tell you honestly what worked.

Auckland is also the largest photography market in the country, with the most clients and the most competition. This guide covers where Auckland students practise, when the light and the calendar are on your side, what the local market actually buys, who else in Auckland teaches photography, and what to expect from us.

Auckland students receive the optional optional Digital Camera by courier to any Auckland address; there is no campus visit at any point in the course.

Also studying with us from North Shore, Waitākere, Manukau, Pukekohe, Hibiscus Coast, Whangārei and nearby.

Great Places to Shoot in Auckland

Tāmaki Drive and Mission Bay

Golden-hour seascape, long exposures, using Rangitoto Island as a fixed subject while you change settings

Best time: Dawn; in winter the sun rises close to Rangitoto

Access: Paid parking along the drive, or the Tāmaki Link bus. An incoming tide covers the rocks and cleans up the foreground.

Takaparawhau / Bastion Point

The CBD skyline, sunset, Rangitoto and the harbour in one frame

Best time: Sunset into blue hour

Access: Free parking near the Savage Memorial. Wide, open and usually windy.

Karangahape Road, Queen Street and Britomart

Street photography, night and neon, reflections

Best time: Dusk and evening, wet nights especially

Access: Public transport is easiest. Britomart's laneways give even shade for portraits by day.

Wynyard Quarter and Viaduct Harbour

Architecture, reflections, long exposures of moving boats

Best time: Blue hour

Access: Tripods are fine on the public wharves. Wynyard Crossing bridge and Silo Park give clean lines.

The Auckland Photography Calendar

March

Pasifika Festival, Western Springs; Auckland Arts Festival; Round the Bays on Tāmaki Drive

Colour and performance; movement and panning practice

June to July

Matariki

Dawn ceremonies, night sky, public holiday

August to March

Muriwai gannets nesting

The wildlife assignment on your doorstep

November

Farmers Santa Parade, Queen Street

Event photography in crowds

December

Pōhutukawa in flower

Red against blue water along Tāmaki Drive and the North Shore bays

Working as a Photographer in Auckland

What that means for a student: you can specialise here. A portrait photographer in Auckland can build a business on headshots alone; a real-estate photographer can work five days a week. The Business Photography Course exists for exactly this transition: pricing, finding clients and running the work as a business.

Read: Pricing Your Photography Business →

The Auckland Photography Community

Festival

Auckland Festival of Photography, held late May into June across the city.

Galleries

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery in Titirangi; Objectspace in Ponsonby; Auckland War Memorial Museum's photography collections.