Julia and Michael’s story starts at sea.
We met while working as photographers on cruise ships — long hours, fast-paced days, and hundreds of portraits captured every week. From formal nights on deck to impromptu family sessions in port, the experience shaped how we saw people… and how we saw our future.
During this time, Julia was selected for a specialist training program with renowned portrait photographer Joe Craig in Missouri — a rare opportunity offered only to the most promising cruise ship photographers.
She returned from her training in the U.S. as a certified master photographer, bringing a new depth and calmness to every shoot she did from then on.
Somewhere between sea days and sunsets, the dream started to take shape — a slower, more personal studio where every session could be created with intention.
A studio imagined across continents.
While holidaying in New York, we bought our first studio lights from Adorama.
Later, while living in Ukraine, we quietly began laying the groundwork for our brand — building our first website and photographing families in rented studios, often hired just for the day.
It wasn’t about learning the craft anymore. It was about shaping the identity of the studio we’d dreamed about for years.
From there we moved to London, where long walks through Hampstead Heath became brainstorming sessions about names, studio ideas and the kind of work we wanted to make together.
The real beginning happened in New Zealand.
Three weeks after arriving in New Zealand, we signed the lease on a small studio in Takanini — a modest space with a one-bedroom flat upstairs and the beginning of something real below.
We started running sessions and experimenting with what felt most natural. Julia suggested offering newborn photography.
Her first newborn shoot didn’t go smoothly.
That small space — humble and full of lessons — became the true start of Photo Hive.
Parenthood and the studio grew together.
We soon exhibited at our first Auckland Baby Show. It didn’t change everything overnight, but it gave us a glimpse of what was possible — and helped spread the word.
Not long after, we moved to a standalone studio in Parnell — our first dedicated business space.
We kept growing the studio together, and the next year, as Julia entered the final weeks of pregnancy, we were still taking bookings.
In the weeks following the birth of our daughter, Michael returned to the Baby Show solo — and the bookings that followed marked the start of our busiest chapter yet.
The studio kept going through every season.
Then came 2020. When COVID hit, everything stopped.
But when outdoor sessions became possible again, we adapted — offering safe, distanced family shoots in parks and open spaces.
Then came the war in Ukraine — Julia’s home.
During that time, a long-time client returned for a shoot. Afterward, they sent a donation to support Ukraine.
This was never just about photography.
Photo Hive has grown with us — from ship decks to newborn blankets, from basic setups to a full-time studio in Auckland. We’ve moved across countries, started a family, and weathered global uncertainty. And through it all, we’ve kept creating.
Because this was never just about photography. It was always about what — and who — matters most.
Julia & Michael today.
Today we live in Auckland with our daughter and run Photo Hive in Parnell together — photographing families from pregnancy through their children’s earliest years.
After more than 17 years behind the camera, we still feel incredibly grateful to do this work and to be trusted with such meaningful memories.
We’d be honoured to help tell yours.