Tony Nyberg is an Auckland-based photographer with 25 years’ experience in photography covering everything from people and architecture to food and lifestyle. He has worked with some of New Zealand’s most iconic magazines and news outlets; he’s also a keen cyclist and music lover.
David Seymour is the leader of ACT and MP for Epsom. An Auckland University graduate in electrical engineering and philosophy, he worked in public policy in Canada before returning home to enter politics in 2014.
Tony Nyberg remembers his shoot with Seymour for Michele Hewitson’s 2021 New Zealand Listener article titled ‘The rise & rise of David Seymour’. The profile covered how the Act leader became the nation’s second choice for Prime Minister at the time.
Where was this taken?
On Broadway in Auckland’s Newmarket. We met in his office and went out to the street. We were setting up lights since it was dark and cars were going past just full on honking horns, yelling support out the windows.
People would just stop and talk to him. I’d be a few metres away and people would just cut in front of the camera and start talking to him. They’d ignore the fact that I was there; at first you’re like, “Excuse me?” but they’d just carry on. In this instance I thought, “Okay, I’ll use the person,” so I got the edge of him so you couldn’t see who it was.
Why did you choose to edit it black and white?
I like how it looks with his expression and I like black and white for my portfolio, but often in editorial they prefer colour. For, this particular shot, it was in completely natural light, just me and the camera in the middle of the road.
What was he like as a photography subject?
He gave me a lot of time for someone of his position. It wasn’t during elections, so he wasn’t in full-on mode. Part of that is in his interest, and I know he was happy with the photos at the time because I showed him.
The interesting thing about my job is you get to meet people of all stripes of life. Maybe people not of your leaning, shall we say, but you kind of want to meet them anyway. Like when I photographed Judith Collins for the Listener, she was the opposite of her image.
David looks engaged, animated, confident, which as a photographer is what you want from your subject, and he was enjoyable to photograph. We didn’t talk politics; we didn’t talk much at all really. I’m the media to him, so he was very professional. He probably assumed I was a lefty anyway.
