Author: Peter Peryer

This author has written 801 articles


Whites

One of the greatest photographic influences on me during my early life apart from Life magazine were the photographs that Whites Aviation produced. It seemed that there was a time when every home had one, along with a George Chance.

This print was originally a black and white image but subsequently hand coloured. I bought it a year or so ago in an auction at Art + Object in Auckland. I think for about $300 framed.

According to the label it was taken at Kaikoura. I would say in the 50’s or 60’s. The photo probably has a negative number that would provide me with the exact date if I was to dig deeper.


Alexandra

Here is the landscape I lived in for a year before returning to Taranaki. Today, the forecast said that the maximum there was going to be 1 degree Celsius. I’m missing these rocks, and the cold. It was the long dark nights that I struggled with.

The Almond Tree

Last year, when I was living at Henderson House high above Alexandra in Central Otago, there was an almond tree in the garden. It was the first fruit tree to flower, very early in the spring, almost in late winter but alone and laden. The apricots, plums, and apples were all much later so this tree stood out, alone and laden.

At the time I took one photo of the scene, this one. Very Pictorialist in feel I recognise, but then the Pictorialism movement in photography has never been anathema to me. I’m more of the opinion that great photography has been made in all styles and with all cameras ever since photography was invented and I don’t like to miss out.

I’ve just returned from Auckland where I had ten of this small image printed . This evening I’m wondering if that is going to be enough. Judging the size of an edition is not a straightforward process for me. Frequently I’ve misjudged and printed too few, at other times, too many.


The Foreshore

It’s been in recent months quite unusual for me to pick up a camera. Just don’t seem to be getting the call. It is I hope, an incubation period.

A week or so ago I went for a walk along our fine foreshore here in New Plymouth and found myself hesitating before several views. I was surprised, it seemed like a start.

Rocks and dirt are always tempting subjects, even if just as a way of practising scales so to speak, a way of understanding and building upon what has been done by colleagues before but long gone, of limbering up the fingers and concentrating the mind.

Below are some Kaikoura rocks, from the top right of the South Island, this was taken a year or so ago.




Kangaroo Paw

My house was built in the 30’s mostly of Rimu and Matai and fibrous plaster. It has some structures such as the alcove in this image which probably has a name. The Kangaroo Paw flowers I bought here in New Plymouth.

Magnetic Attraction

At home here in my studio in New Plymouth I have lots of magnets and iron filings to play with.


Holy Goldfish

Several years ago, in Bali, I saw these giant goldfish gathered in a pool created by a sacred spring. It seemed to me a remarkable place.
I’ve clung to this picture, there’s something about the motion that speaks to me, calls my name, one could say. Puts its hand up. The swimming draws me in.
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P.S. A print of this sold at the Auckland Art Fair last night. That was uplifting news.


Wounded

Cleaning up my picture files over the last few days I have come across photos that I’d forgotten about. This one must be about 4 years old. It’s a digital file and somewhere in it will be the precise date and even the time it was taken.

This photo, taken in my garden, still holds my interest so it’s important for me to revisit it. I think it was Diane Arbus who said something about the importance of photos that don’t quite work, how vital it is to print them up and live with them until you really really understand what the problem is, on a cellular level not just an intellectual one.


Rose

I’ve had this Dublin Bay rose growing in a pot outside for several years. It hasn’t grown much, its roots need more room but still, every year it produces several perfect blooms. Soon it will have its realease.

Last year, when I was making one of my frequent trips from Central Otago back to my studio in New Plymouth, I took this photo.


Central

Central Stories, the museum in Alexandra, Central Otago, where I lived for the last year, has, in its collection, this wooden grinder, perhaps it wasn’t a grinder at all, perhaps it was for making butter, I’m not sure. However in my imagination, I would like to think that it was for turning wheat into flour in order to make bread.

I photographed it two or three times over a few months but usually from further back.

The handle in the base of the device was fun to turn. It made the wooden section on the left of this image rotate, while simultaneously the base turned in a contrary direction. I found it riveting to watch. I even liked the sound it made.

I’m sorry that I have only this one photo left, but it was the last, and I think, the best, bread or butter!

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