Weather

 

 
 
 
Over the last few days the weather
along this coast has been spectacularly
wild. Enjoyable in many ways,
I am slightly disappointed that
it has passed.
 
One of the greatest pleasures
for me has been spending time
on the foreshore.

Pet Shop 3

 
 
 
Back in a pet shop yesterday,
browsing, I came across
these small kennels.
 
Well, I can’t be too sure that
they are meant solely for dogs,
they might also appeal to cats
but I don’t know what a
shelter for cats, if there is such
a thing, would be called.

Pet Shop 2

 
 
 
Here is a toy that I bought at a pet shop in Brisbane.
For dogs, when squeezed, it squeaks.
 
However no dog will however be allowed
to bite this one as I enjoy it
too much myself, not the squeak,
but the overall shape that it
makes.
 
Most of all I would like
to make a marble version.
 

Pet Shop Boy

 
 
The pet shop is a place I often visit
with my camera, or even without
my camera for that matter.
In this case I have used the camera
in my iPhone.
I visit it not, however, just for the animals,
that are found there,
fish, bird, canine, or reptilian
but also for the supplementary
material, the objects that
are placed in aquaria for example.
Or the toys that they have for cats and dogs.
I often buy some of these items
not that I have cat, dog, or fish.

Tony’s Toys

 
 
I took this photo about 3 years ago,
and have had it on my bathroom wall
for the last two. I never went beyond making
one print. I wanted to think about the image
before I made the expensive decision to print
an edition, although I did exhibit this particular print a couple
of times.
 
I keep looking at this photo in terms of the
flat planes of colour that compose the image.
 
For some time I’ve been looking for a photo that
I’d taken that would work in needlepoint.
Perhaps this image could be treated that way.
Those flat planes make it much easier to
render in thread.
 
Even as a boy I was interested in needlepoint but never really
took it up other than in a sporadic way.
My mother did encourage me though and she
had as a young woman been a seamstress
in Karangahape Road.
 
I’ve heard my stitching described as ‘tortured’
so I wouldn’t stitch it myself.
 
Meanwhile, lately, I ‘ve been
thinking that I will after all print an edition
of the photographic version.
 

The Pressure of Sunlight Falling

 
 
Here are two photographs taken
at Fiona Pardington’s exhibition opening
and book launch at the Govett-Brewster
Art Gallery in New Plymouth.
The speaker in the top photo is Rhana Devenport,
director of the Govett-Brewster.
On the right in the photo below, smiling, is Fiona.
 
 

Ant Attack

 
 
I’m currently experiencing an ant attack
so I’ve had to go on the offensive with some
poison. It is obviously made of something
very delectable because it only takes minutes
for them scout it out and form a scrum.
New Zealand has 11 known species of ant.
I think that this is one of them.

Hare


 
 
A photo of a hare that I took
a couple of years ago is now
on the side of the Govett-Brewster
Art Gallery here in New Plymouth.
It is the signature work
for a collection show that they
have on at present.
 
 
 

Bat Flower

 
 
This plant is native to South East Asia
although I saw this particular specimen
growing in Auckland.
 
A flower like this is very tempting
to a photographer like me but
I can see that although the image
is superficially interesting, I have
not been able to add anything extra.
 
In other words, it is important
not just to show, but to say.
 
Someone once said that a photographer
must place themselves between the camera and the subject,
that at a good photograph is one
taken through a personality.
It is my personality that is lacking
in this image. Still, it is important
to keep trying for new images.
 
Photos that don’t work are vital
in that we must understand why they
don’t succeed otherwise one is doomed
to repeat them.

Waitara

 
 
As I was taking the photograph
of Laurence in the previous post, the one below,
I was also looking, with my camera, in the direction of the Tasman,
an empty ocean that spreads a thousand miles to
Australia.