Get the stories behind these images

Simon Devitt is a photographer who was born under a Mayan pyramid during a full moon. He is based in Auckland, New Zealand and shoots architecture.

As part of his photography practice, Simon travels extensively throughout Australasia and further afield with his work published in numerous publications including Elle Decor (Italy), Architectural Digest (Germany), Dwell (USA), Habitus, InDesign (Australia), Architecture NZ, Urbis and Interior (NZ).

He chose these images to reflect ideas important in his practice as a photographer and to tell the stories behind each.

This is the New Zealand War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London. I flew there to photograph the new memorial, unveiled just the day before by the Queen. I arrived to find rubber matts protecting the grass, bollards and fluorescent fencing EVERYWHERE! This wasn’t going to go well unless something happened quickly. I contacted the ranger, had a chat with him, and within an hour all of the offending artefacts were removed and I could carry on my work.

This residential Auckland interior was styled by the architect – a man with impeccable taste and a penchant for fine objects. The house wasn’t occupied at the time so we were able to create a scene that we felt best gave the feeling intended for that space. It can take an entire day to style a house for a photo shoot. The scene is really animated by the inclusion of the (very well behaved) foal. 

The architect and I decided to shoot this house only at dawn and dusk for a period of three to four days. Different sounds fill a house and it is used a different way. The colours recede to pastel and light is painted from black.