Georg Kohlap was well known in Auckland during the 1980s and '90s for his candid shots of high society at play. They appeared in Metro magazine, illustrating the On the Town column, with reluctant celebrities hiding behind the caption, "A visitorfrom Hawke's Bay".
But Kohlap was not just a society photographer. He had toured Vietnam twice during the war there, as a photojournalist, and worked extensively in the advertising industry. His first book, David, Boy of the High Country, was used in New Zealand schools to illustrate South Island farm life.
In the late '60s he moved to Wellington and worked as an independent photographer, producing portfolios for up-and-coming actors, such as Nyree Dawn Porter, who later made her name in the television series The Forsyte Saga.
In 1969, Kohlap opened a studio in Parnell, Auckland, again working in advertising but also taking pictures of boats in the Hauraki Gulf. He understood that no skipper could resist a framed colour print of his yacht under sail in the Hauraki Gulf.
He helped to found the Advertising and Illustrative Photographers Association, and was later made a life member.
Kohlap was born in Estonia in 1932. During World War II he and his mother escaped to Germany, eventually being sent to a displaced persons camp near Berlin. Kohlap's father was captured by the Russians, and after 10 years in a prison camp returned to Estonia.
The young Kohlap and his mother got passage to New Zealand as refugees and ended up in a camp near Pahiatua. They later moved to Christchurch where he began his career as a photographer.
Georg Kohlap is survived by his partner Gwendoline (Glenda) Van der Maas and their families.
