New Zealand's Portia Woodman-Wickliffe pushes off an Irish player at the HSBC New Zealand Sevens in Hamilton last year. The photo was taken by Gisborne-born DJ Mills for Photosport.
New Zealand's Portia Woodman-Wickliffe pushes off an Irish player at the HSBC New Zealand Sevens in Hamilton last year. The photo was taken by Gisborne-born DJ Mills for Photosport.
Gisborne lawn bowler and former cricket medium-pacer Trevor Mills is checking winter sport coverage more closely than usual.
His 20-year-old grandson DJ (David) Mills has been taking photos of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) under-20 men’s championship, which finished yesterday in Samoa.
DJ is under contract to New Zealand firm Phototek, which has a contract with OFC for the supply of photos from the tournament.
On Friday, he posted on Facebook that by the end of the group stage he had taken a total of 46,213 images across 10 days and 12 matches.
And when this tournament is over, he will do more work for OFC, at the under-16 men’s tournament in Tahiti, from July 28 to August 10.
Born in Gisborne and educated in Te Awamutu, DJ Mills lives with mother Sarah in Pirongia, 12 kilometres west of Te Awamutu.
Trevor Mills said his grandson was a keen golfer and footballer until he discovered photography when he was about 14. Then he devoted most of his spare time to his new interest.
Gisborne-born DJ Mills is making a name for himself as a sports photographer.
A February 2022 Te Awamutu News profile said DJ used to stream video games on the livestreaming platform Twitch, where he earned enough money to buy a small camera. He also made money landscaping part-time and working for the Covid-19 helpline.
Another profile, in the Waikato Herald, said DJ first took photos with his compact camera at a Kihikihi speedway meet for a friend who raced ministocks.
He enjoyed it a lot, bought a better camera and it grew from there.
While still at Te Awamutu College, he talked with a couple of mentors and set up Shutter Media Group – NZ.
Mills said his grandson left school at 18 and had taken a particular interest in photographing motorsport, notably karting and speedway.
His work captured the interest of Canon New Zealand and Agence France-Presse (AFP) and resulted in a three-week sponsored visit to Paris, France, last year.
While he was there, AFP contracted him to take photos at the Rugby World Cup game between the All Blacks and Namibia in Toulouse.
More recently he has worked for the Waikato Times as a part-time photographer.
Fiji and Vanuatu in action at the Oceania Football Confederation Under-20 tournament - one of the images captured by DJ Mills on contract for Phototek.
