Tony Nyberg is an Auckland-based photographer with 25 years’ experience in photography spanning from people and architecture to food and lifestyle. Working for some of New Zealand’s most iconic magazines and news outlets, he’s also a keen cyclist and music lover.

Dame Lynley Dodd is a New Zealand children’s book author and illustrator, best known for her picture book series Hairy Maclary and Friends, which has sold over five million copies worldwide.

Graduating from the Elam School of Art in Auckland in 1962, she went on to become a recipient of the Margaret Mahy Award, as well as having sculptures of her iconic book characters unveiled in her hometown of Tauranga in 2015.

Tony Nyberg remembers his shoot with the beloved author for NEXT magazine in 2011, which at the time was celebrating her career in the lead up to her 70th birthday.

Where was this photo taken?

This was at Lynley’s home in the Bay of Plenty, I remember it being a fair drive.

Did you direct her into this pose?

There was a degree of that, mixed with “we’ll see what happens.” Quantity makes those “perfect” shots come out. I remember it was also about to rain, so I used very grade A, very soft light, possibly even all natural. I don’t think I used flash because that might’ve disrupted the dogs.

Was it a bit chaotic?

Yes. And with NEXT magazine, they very much wanted lots of options, so we did all these different looks and there were make up artists there. It was a whole thing. And I suppose everyone’s gone all that way, so you want to make it spectacular. I’m pretty sure Lynley put on a spread of snacks too.

There probably were only three photos where everything came together. I chose this one because it’s just perfect the way one of the dogs is looking back at the camera. Off-camera, there’s probably a makeup artist trying to get the dogs attention which made that happen. The next few frames were probably bad with the dogs looking away or running off.

Do you thrive under the busyness, or do you prefer a one-on-one shoot?

I like both. It’s nice having one-on-one with a person and to go through different options and try different light. But when it’s the chaos, you get the unexpected. You’ve got to be totally open and ready the whole time.

But Lynley was very natural and easy in front of the camera. She won’t even remember it I’m sure, she’s done so many shoots!