Photos at Knight: Te Awamutu photographer helps community capture moments

Te Awamutu's Kayne Knight is behind the lens of Photos at Knight. Photo / Kayne Knight

Waikato photographer Kayne Knight thought he had to go down a more conventional career path. The sudden death of his brother changed his mind.

Now, Knight opened his own business called Photos at Knight to help the community capture important moments.

The 24-year-old grew up in Te Kūiti and moved north to Te Awamutu before high school and said he always had an interest in photography.

“I’ve been into photography since I was a kid. My mum used to take heaps of photos of the family.

“I got my own digital camera when I was really young. When I went to high school I did a lot of digital media work, then fell off of it,” the Te Awamutu College alumnus said.

“It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy it – in fact, I really enjoyed it. But I had these ideas in my head that I was supposed to do business and economics and go down a ‘proper path’.”

But after the unexpected death of his younger brother Matthew last year, his outlook on life changed.

“It was one of those moments where I decided, every moment is fleeting, why am I out here doing something that I don’t enjoy? I had recently started getting back into photography for personal use. I decided to get out there and do it for other people,” he said.

He started at the Glen Afton railway near Huntly, where he was a volunteer and “fell into” being their photographer.

Knight said his favourite aspect of photography was “capturing moments”.

Visitors chat to the engineer at the Glen Afton Railway open day in August. Photo / Kayne Knight

“I was sorting through the photos after my brother’s death and the photos I really liked the most were the ones that were candid, where we were doing something and Mum just happened to capture the moment,” he said.

“Everyone has a phone – a camera in their pocket – but to take photos with that you’ve got to pull yourself out of the moment.

“I like to capture moments because there are so many moments in my life that I now hold on to because a family member has captured them – especially when you have family you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with. Every little moment that you can capture is important.”

Knight said his clients so far were smaller events and groups, including the Dairy Women’s Network in Matamata and the Woolshed Theatre in Te Awamutu.

“Smaller events and organisations that would like to have the photos, but can’t justify having a full-blown professional photographer – that’s what I’ve started targeting.

“They can fully focus on what they’re doing and I can focus on capturing cool moments that they’ll look back on in 10 years and go, ‘wow I was in that, I did that’.”

Knight said he had a flexible rate and was willing to work out more affordable costs for local voluntary groups and organisations.

“It’s such a passion for me, it’s fun and satisfying being able to help the community,” he said.

“You don’t realise what moments you’ll look back on and wish you had physical archives of. You’ll never know how important a photo can be until 10 years later.”

For more information, search Photosatknight on Facebook and Instagram or contact Knight via photosatknight@proton.me and 022 300 3916.

Jesse Wood is a multimedia journalist based in Te Awamutu. He joined the Te Awamutu Courier and NZME in 2020.