I have worked closely with Annelies on assignments for bright magazine for over a year now. She is a highly creative, confident photographer and builds up a good rapport with her subjects. Technically she also achieves very high standards – on one cultural performance shoot she did over several hours all photographs were of excellent quality.

She has also taken up the role of art director for covers of bright. This is a creatively challenging task as the cover stories on business topics are not easy to illustrate. She enjoyed particular success with one cover which was selected as one of three finalists for Cover of the Year Award, contract publication, at the MPA’s annual awards in 2004.

She also takes part in a visuals planning meeting held each issue to brainstorm ideas for the treatment of each story. In this again she illustrates her creativity, knowledge of what is out in the market and always her good sense of humour.

I recommend her highly.

Chris Wilson
Editor
bright magazine
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise

Annelies van der Poel has had the dubious pleasure of photographing me and various other musical cohorts for the last eight years.

Whether it has been a commission for a women's magazine for When the Cat's Been Spayed, media shots, or CD cover work, she always brings a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to her work, and a great bedside manner, especially in the studio.

The CD sleeve of Touring, a live album by Mahinarangi Tocker and Charlotte Yates is virtually a Van Der Poel photographic essay as we were working through a soundcheck for that evening's concert. We eventually forgot she was there. Annelies was fearless about getting the shots she wanted.

That her media photographs of me have been repeatedly used by the Listener, the Herald, The Otago Daily Times, the Christchurch Press and NZ Musician among countless other examples of print media, says more about the photography than the subject.

Annelies has also recently extended her repertoire from still to moving image in her exploration of the work of James K Baxter's poetry by being video designer for the hit show Baxer from the NZ Festival 2000. She also directed the broadcast video of Greg Johnson's setting of Baxter's poem, Let Time Be Still, which was a finalist in the 2002 NZ Music Video Awards. Not bad for a blonde.

Charlotte Yates
www.charlotteyates.com