King Kong Premiere in Wellington, New Zealand—Twenty Years On

Just a quick note to say I can’t believe it’s been twenty years today since the premiere of Peter Jackson’s King Kong, at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington!

I was an accredited photographer in the media pen that day (as I had been for several previous premieres of Peter Jackson films by then), and knew by this time to get there early to have the view towards the cinema along the red carpet; and, as ever the sun came out and gave us all incredible lens flare when looking back towards the stage—but eventually it set…

Photographing The ArtsRobert CattoDecember 14, 2025Wellington, New Zealand, Embassy Theatre, King Kong, Peter Jackson, Premiere, Canon 1D Mark IIComment

Photographing The Arts: A Chorus Line (2020/2022)

Recently it was the 50th anniversary of A Chorus Line, the famous musical based on actual stories from performers working in the industry, their lives, their fears, and the challenges of getting that job and then actually DOING that job.

I photographed the Darlinghurst Theatre Company production in 2020—having flown back from my father’s funeral in Canada to be in Sydney for the dress rehearsal, only for the borders to close and theatres shut down just in time for their opening night—and again in 2021 when the show actually managed to happen, with an almost entirely different cast than the first version I’d seen a year or so earlier…

Photographing the arts: embracing uncertainty

“When I look back at how I got to where I am now, the one through-line that carries on is always theatre. For me, that’s been the great love/obsession of my working life, and so everything I’ve done—since high school, basically—has been about finding my place in that community.”

A couple of years ago, I was interviewed by the wonderful performer Jennifer Trijo (who I met working on Once, and is currently in Hadestown) for her blog about careers in the arts which is, sadly, no longer online. I always intended to republish it here at some stage, as I thought we had a really great conversation about building a career in the performing arts.

So, with her permission, here’s the article she wrote at the time…

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