Darryl Torckler

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Torckler, Darryl ( - ) is an award-winning photographer, specializing in photographing the marine environment. His photography has been widely published internationally and has been featured in many books and magazines.

Darryl Torckler has won over 100 major international photography awards, including four first place awards in the internationally prestigious British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. Darryl Torckler and his wife Gillian Torckler have been diving and working together for over a decade and have collaborated on several books, usually with Darryl as photographer and Gillian as author.

Torckler’s list of publications includes Underwater Wonders of New Zealand (New Holland, 1999); Kiwi Adventures Snorkeling (Reed, 2002); Kiwi Adventures Trout Fishing (Reed, 2002); What am I? (Reed, 2003); Life size guide to NZ fish (Random House, 2003); What am I? In the bush (Reed, 2004); Destination Southern Lakes (Reed, 2006); Bird's-Eye View (Penguin, 2006); Destination Auckland (Reed, 2007); Top New Zealand Dive Sites (Raupo, 2008); You’ve only just begun (Barron's Educational Publishing, USA, 2009); Your heart will sing again (Barron's Educational Publishing, USA, 2010).

Educational book What am I? In the Bush (Reed, 2004), a guide to New Zealand native species that can be seen in the bush at night, is reviewed by Reading Time: ‘Captioned photographs give further information that is then followed by a quiz to check out what is learnt before moving to the next narrative poem. The photographs are spot on, using macro-photography to startle and provoke the young reader into an awareness of the wonder of nature.’

Destination Southern Lakes (Reed, 2006) and Destination Auckland (Reed, 2007) are both guidebooks written for children, helping families find child-friendly activities at their chosen holiday destination. Tessa Duder reviews both in the NZ Edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly, ‘Guidebooks written for children can be tricky territory but these two Destination books will strike just the right note for Kiwi families traveling within their own country, as well as tourists.’

Top New Zealand Dive Sites (Reed, 2008) is a colour guide to 40 of the top dive sites in New Zealand, and includes a photographic guide to species you may find under the water here in New Zealand. ‘You can tell a useful book by how worn the corners of each page are. If it’s jam-packed with good information, you’ll thumb your way back through favorite sections making sure the info sticks or others see it too. It won’t take long before the pages in this book wear well beyond their years.’ (Boating New Zealand)

WRITERS IN SCHOOLS INFORMATION

Torckler is able to speak to students of all age groups as part of the Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme. He is happy to speak about being a photographer and a non-fiction writer. He can speak about his life and work, take workshops, speak about how he illustrates books through photography and answer questions. He can speak to any number of students and is able to travel outside of his region for school visits.