Having trained as a lighting designer for theatre, dance and opera, my work is driven by that experience and my knowledge of how to light a subject for an audience. Photography is quite similar to lighting in a lot of ways - except the camera is the audience, rather than the source of light.

As a box office manager in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand, I also developed a keen eye for the kind of images that attract people. It's pretty easy to see from most marketing which shows are going to sell, and which aren't - it's almost always a single image that does or doesn't work for the show.

(And as if that wasn’t enough, I played a photographer in Peter Jackson's King Kong, as well!)

I'm a founding member of the Kage Collective, was an Accredited Professional Photographer with the AIPP, and I've been a guest speaker at the PSNZ and AIPA Image Nation national conferences, photographic societies around New Zealand, and at the National Museum, Te Papa. I also run workshops on low-light photography. Articles on my work have appeared in D-Photo, The Photographers Mail, and F11 magazines.

(Also, for those who were wondering: it's pronounced CAT-oh, like a cat, rather than KAY-Toe, like a cake.)

Previous work has included:

• Production photography for Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Red Line Productions, Ensemble Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Belvoir, Performing Lines, Critical Stages, Apocalypse, Sport For Jove, Monkey Baa, Matriark Theatre, Green Door, Milk Crate, Legs On The Wall, Hayes Theatre, Bonnie Lythgoe Productions, and Indian Ink;

• Promotional imagery for Bondi Festival, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Auckland Theatre Company, Jane Rutter, Global Creatures / Strictly Ballroom The Musical, and the National Theatre of Parramatta;

• Concert & promotional images for Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Musica Viva, Michael Cassel Presents, the Song Company, Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, the Australian and Sydney Youth Orchestras, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Chamber Choir, and City Recital Hall as well as Marcia Hines, James Morrison, the Rob Guest Endowment, and Defying Gravity: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz for Enda Markey Presents, featuring Stephen Schwartz, Betty Buckley, Sutton Foster and Aaron Tveit;

• Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate, Icon and New Generation awards;

• The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings, King Kong and The Lovely Bones film premieres;

• albums by Lea Salonga, Taryn Fiebig & Scott Davies, the Hobnail Boots, and Mahinarangi Tocker;

• Corporate hosting events around the All Blacks vs. the British & Irish Lions rugby tour; and

• New Zealand International Arts Festival from 2004 to 2012, working with artists and companies from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Latvia, the United States, Canada, Australia, Korea, China, and more.

A few of the places my work has appeared are:

• News outlets around the globe, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter, CBC, Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, Calgary Herald, BBC, Scotsman, Scottish Daily Record, ABC, Melbourne Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian, Canberra Times, New Zealand Herald, Radio New Zealand, and the Dominion Post;

• Marie Claire, Sx and Time Out (Australia), Organic Style (US), l'Actualité (Canada), Meridiani (Italy), as well as Metro, North And South, Rip It Up, M2, OnFilm, and the Listener magazines in New Zealand;

• the official ‘Making Of The Lord Of The Rings’ book and Fan Club magazine;

• the author portrait for Eleanor Catton's Man Booker Prize winning novel The Luminaries;

• Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand;

• and brochures, album covers, posters and websites for clients around the world.

Contact:

PO Box 806
Darlinghurst NSW
Australia 1300

robert@robertcatto.com

(+61) 415 747 606