Andris Apse
Andris Apse, of Okarito, received the Insignia of a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to photography. Mr Apse has contributed significantly to New Zealand’s international profile through his landscape and wildlife photography. Arriving in New Zealand from Latvia as a five-year-old in 1949, and leaving school the age of 15, Mr Apse has had a successful career as a self-taught photographer. From 1984 to 1995 he was commissioned by Air New Zealand to photograph the nation’s landscape, capturing iconic images that helped promote New Zealand as an international tourist destination.