Allegro Championships (sport photography in Auckland)

Winter in New Zealand often brings quieter months for weddings and outdoor couple sessions, with unpredictable weather and frequent rain. However, it also creates the perfect opportunity for indoor events and sports photography—especially figure skating competitions.

I’m always incredibly grateful for the chance to stay connected to the skating community and to continue documenting ice figure skating events across Auckland. As both a skater myself and a parent of a young skater, this sport holds a very special place in my heart. It’s always inspiring to witness the dedication, discipline, and artistry that skaters bring to the ice. Every program is a blend of strength, grace, and emotion, and capturing those fleeting moments is something I truly love.

The Allegro Championships is one of the highlights of the winter skating calendar. These club competitions bring together skaters of all ages and levels, each performing with passion and commitment in front of their coaches, families, and supporters.

This year’s event was once again filled with beautiful performances, emotional moments, and incredible progress from skaters who have worked tirelessly throughout the season. It’s always rewarding to see not only the big technical elements, but also the small expressions and personal achievements that make each performance unique.

For me personally, this season feels like a natural transition point. As the winter skating competitions wrap up, wedding season is just around the corner - bringing a completely different kind of storytelling. From icy arenas to outdoor celebrations, it’s a shift I always look forward to.

It’s a privilege to move between these two worlds - sports and weddings - both filled with emotion, movement, and meaningful moments worth preserving.

Enjoy highlights from another wonderful winter event at the Allegro Championships.

Clucas Cup - Ice figure skating photography

As many of you already know, ice skating is one of my greatest passions - alongside photography - and whenever those two worlds come together, it truly feels like a dream job.

It was a real honour to be invited by the New Zealand Ice Figure Skating Association to photograph the Clucas Cup, one of the selection competitions marking the start of the new skating season in New Zealand.

This event brings together some of the country’s top skaters, opening the season with powerful performances, technical precision, and beautiful artistry on the ice. It’s always exciting to see athletes returning to competition after the off-season, bringing fresh programs, energy, and ambition to the rink.

Among the competitors were many incredibly talented skaters, including Dwayne Li, Petra Lahti, Renee Tsai, Cara Tang, Mirika Armstrong, Nicca Wu, and Mia Chen, along with many other inspiring New Zealand skaters- including my own daughter, Anna-Bella.

The rink was full of energy from the very first warm-up to the final performance. It was truly “fire on ice”—a combination of passion, grace, determination, and artistry that makes this sport so special to witness and capture.

What I love most about photographing competitions like this is the variety of emotions and moments happening in a split second: focus before a jump, relief after a clean landing, joy in performance, and the connection between skaters, coaches, and families.

It was such a privilege to document the start of the season and to be part of such an important event in the New Zealand skating calendar.

I’m already looking forward to photographing more competitions throughout the season, especially the upcoming Nationals in October.

Exciting times ahead!

Enjoy highlights from the Clucas Cup.

Sports Event Photography (Auckland photographer) - Ice Figure Skating

If you are wondering what Im up to in between of wedding seasons. The answer is simple - I’m not only skating myself as an adult ice skater (and have my daughter skating), but also happy to help skating community and capture sports event photography in Auckland (and experienced event photographer by now shooting over 10 seasons) - my favourite ice figure skating competitions during the skating season (which falls perfectly in between of my favourite couples and weddings, family photo shoots). When weather not so nice with big chance of rain, and wind on the beach, great to spent time inside to enjoy warm atmosphere at competitions.

Perfect for me to put together two of my passions - photography and skating!

This year I been asked to be an official photographer for three sport events - competitions in Auckland: Skate Academy Competitions, Allegro Championship and North Island Championships.

Enjoy these moments of beauty, power and grace in photo gallery highlights:

North Island Ice Figure Skating Championship (Sport photography in Auckland)

As some of you may know I recently been asked to photograph ice skating competitions, and it was a pleasure to see all the power and grace on the ice. This time I been asked to be an official photographer for North Island Ice Figure Skating Championship, last competitions of the season in Auckland.

Such a beautiful and graceful sport, that I love to do myself!

Enjoy highlights of this amazing competitions!

Good luck all skaters participating in Nationals in Dunedin. Not long to go now!

New Zealand Ice Figure Skating Championships {Sports Photography}

As you may know Im not only a photographer, but also adult skater and been fortunate to be asked to became an Official Photographer for New Zealand Ice Figure Skating Championships, Nationals competitions in Auckland, NZ {18-21 October 2022}. It was a pleasure to dive in sports photography, so similar to events/wedding photography when you need to keep focused at all times and watch for the right moment to happen, putting attention on lines, composition, body language, emotions - passion and grace that skaters express in their programs.

You need to be on point, pre-view the moment that just about ro happen. Knowledge of figure skating and all the skating elements, programs requirements and layouts definitely a bonus for ability to get things right in camera. It was a challenging task with many thousands of photos captured over 4 days, but also very rewarding.

So much beauty, grace and talent!

Enjoy this quick sneak peek! Final galleries will be ready in 3-4 weeks {not late to make your order at www.levienphotography.com/new-zealand-nationals

Let me know if you have any questions!