The first title produced under his own publishing company, Sandfly Publishing, is a full-gloss, coffee-table book featuring the cordon bleu of his bird photography.
Stunning close-up images allow the reader to study details of many of our skittery native birds far better than an individual could do in the wild, even equipped with powerful binoculars.
Hallet's images are clean.
His clever use of a telephoto lens and careful selection of backgrounds at the beach, in the forest and beside inland waterways, ensure his bird portraits are clutter-free, giving many a studio look.
Perfect timing, no doubt honed by his photojournalism background, captures airborne fish or crabs on their way to a bird feast or the ''freezing'' and interactions of birds in flight.
Most readers will be aware of the intense conservation efforts to stop the decline of high-profile native birds such as the kakapo, black stilt and mohua, but the disturbing message repeated by Hallett in his accompanying text are the large number of lesser known species which have declined to fewer than several hundred individuals.
• Stephen Jaquiery is ODT illustrations editor.
