By George! - the life of George Berry in pictures

George Berry is our fourth featured photographer and an absolute sweetheart of a man: ask anyone who has crossed paths with him. You might have even seen him on stage before if you've ever gone to see The Butlers live. He's the drummer and his chocolaty smooth vocals grace many of their songs. He's also a freelance Sports Reporter for TV3's Newshub and also Sky Sports News. When he's not doing that, he works as an arts coordinator at his old high school; hangs out with his lovely partner Amy, his friends and family. He also has a passion for playing sports and eating Mexican food. Heaps of Mexican food.

When Christmas rolled round in 2018, his dad gave him a film camera – one that his grandad had been keeping in his garage for years and years, a Canon EF (made in the mid-'70s). "Dad has always had a love for film, and I caught the bug that summer while we were on tour around the North Island opening for Sticky Fingers and playing a few of our own shows."

His dad always stressed the importance of never rushing to take a snap. "Sometimes I stand there for minutes at a time making sure the lighting is perfect, the focus is right, and the framing is as good as I can get it." 

"I guess the main thing I love about the photos I've taken is that they all tell a unique story. I feel like when you look at them, you can almost see the scene being played out in front of your eyes."

 The following ten snaps are all shot by George; filled with vibrant colours and epic memories all in one. Learn a little more about the stories behind the images.

We were on our way back from playing with Sticky in Napier, heading to Mount Maunganui for the last show of the tour. We stopped on the side of the road to fill up with gas and gave the windscreen of the van a good ol' clean. It turned into a lengthy pitstop where we did a mini-photoshoot and made compelling content for our Instagram stories. This is probably the freshest we had been during that whole tour because the night of that Napier show, we'd been given Hotel rooms to sleep in. It was the first time we weren't sleeping on the floor in a room with no air-conditioning or windows. I vividly remember after the Napier show, Freddy and I had showers for the first time all week and got straight into our beds to watch cricket on the TV with beers in hand. Now that's Rock and Roll.

This was from that very show in Napier that I've just been blabbering on about, and I love how the lighting tells a story of its own in this snap. There were four bands on the bill that night, so there was a long row of marquees backstage filled with all sorts of humans. I remember walking up to the stage to play our set and having a peek into what Katchafire had in their marquee courtesy of their hospitality rider. I won't disclose exactly what was on there, but I remember taking mental notes and wanting to change ours up after seeing that! That night, I also had my sunglasses stolen out of our green room. I had left them in there accidentally, and we'd already left, so I texted the lady in charge and asked her if she could grab them for me, but it was too late. A fella in a band, whose name I shall not say, had decided he liked the look of the eyewear and claimed them for himself. A few days later, we were eating food in a burger joint in The Mount, and who comes strolling in with my glasses on but the man himself! He was gutted, but man, it was weird. I got them back, and the rest is history. 

This photo screams maximum relaxation. This is Amy, my sister Maddie, and our friend Briar doing the gruelling and tiring task of lying poolside in Fiji last year. We had three families all staying together in Denarau; it was an unreal trip filled with constant laughter. I kept messing up the focus on most of the shots I took, but this one came out nicely. The colours in this shot pop, even just the tiniest flowers in the background stand out. 

Once the Sticky Tour was all said and done, we had a couple of days off, so we drove to a waterfall just outside of Tauranga. It was incredible. The scenery was picturesque, the water was just superb (mainly because I hadn't had a shower in 3-4 days) and the opportunities to take photos were at an all-time high. I think I used nearly a whole roll of film this day, and I had about four photos in my shortlist to put into this collection. I chose this one because I feel like you can see the scene moving just by staring at it. I remember getting it processed soon after and thinking it would make for quite a cool postcard photo. 

Amy and I went on a weekend getaway to Little River to stay in a bus which we found on Air BNB. The places you book on that app can either be hit or miss, and boy we struck gold on this one. The way they had turned the bus into a functional place to stay was just incredible; it had everything you needed and more. We did a lot of photoshoots on this trip, either on our phones or on film. I believe this photo was taken pretty much straight after we had settled ourselves in, and Amy was dancing around the place in glee at the epic situation we had found ourselves in. Of the ten photos in this wee collection, I think this one tells the best story just by looking at it, and the red of the bus looks super nice too.

Kaiteriteri is a special place for our family. Mum's side of the family are all from the Nelson region originally, and her relatives own some places up on the hill in Kaiteri which we stay in every year. Mum has an uncle who lives there fulltime, his name's Tom, we all call him 'Uncle Tom.' He's a living legend in the small wee township and has been a sailor all of his life, captaining huge ships all across the world. Every time we're up there, he'll take us out on his boat, the 'Royal Saxon.' Towed on the back is his dinghy, he calls it 'Tom Thumb.' We'd parked up at a bay for lunch, and Mum and Dad went for a wee explore of the bay. I took this photo as they were paddling back to the Saxon, and I love how it captures just pure happiness on Mum's face. The colours of the ocean are just insane in this photo too, and the way Tom Thumb is sitting in the water almost makes it look like a painting. 

During our trip to Fiji, we went to the Fruit and Vege markets in town. It was an absolute haven for taking photos of the beautiful people and their smiles, pineapples with four heads, and this fella. I think we were about to leave the market, and all of a sudden, along came strolling a wee cart selling ice-creams, which was a bit of a hit with the locals given how hot it was. I loved the name of his business, 'Me and my Ice Cream.' I mean, he isn't wrong is he, he's just telling us how it is! I remember being apprehensive about asking if I could take a photo of him, but once I did, he gave me a subtle wee nod, and we were good to go. Hopefully, he made a killing that day, if he needs a photo for advertising maybe I should try to send it to him somehow.

I got the focus completely wrong in this photo, but it actually turned out to be a favourite of mine for its mysterious qualities. We were on our way down to Queenstown to play a show with Dave Dobbyn and Fly My Pretties, and we made a nice wee trip of it. The night before the show, we stayed in a small town called Ophir and explored the surrounding area heaps. I took this photo of Bradley when we stopped to get some food at Four Square. He's either drawing something in his wee Mal Notepad or writing some poetry I'd say. Classic Mal.

I mean, come on now. This is taken in Kaiteri too, but this time it's on the deck of Uncle Tom's place where we stay. The view from that place is one of the best in the world, hands down. You could probably spend the whole day parked up gazing out to that view, people watching as the tide moves in and out. This photo of Amy is quite simply an all-timer. It wasn't planned that she was wearing white, but it's a great coincidence as it matches the colour of the balustrade and the boats, which all give great partnering to the blue of the sky above and the water below. I probably had Dad behind me coaching me on the best way to take the photo, and the best place for Amy to stand so the lighting was right too. Relaxation and happiness ooze from this photo.

I posted a few of my film photos on my Facebook page last year, and this one got some attention. I'm not sure if it's because they think it's a nice photo, or if it's because of Frederick's beauty (of course we know it's because of Freddy but just pretend that it might not be, okay?). I took this as Freddy was coming back from his heat in the Single Fin Mingle, where I'm sure he had heaps of fun. Freddy loves to have fun. In terms of the photo itself, it's pretty blurry all in all, and the colours surrounding Freddy are all pretty much the same kind of sandy colour. I mean, of course, there's sand in the background, but the two guys walking behind him both have jackets on with similar colours to the sand. It makes Freddy's blue singlet become the stand-alone feature (as well as that subtle smile, of course). I probably would've got a chuckle out of him if I told him to think about us watching Cricket in Napier tucked into our beds like old people, maybe that's a trick I'll use next time.