FruitlandsFruitlands is the name of the area where I took this photo today. Interesting name for somewhere that looks like this. Almost as puzzling as another nearby locality called Muttontown. Don’t think that I would want to live somewhere called Muttontown. I can say this because as far as I know no one lives there and I’m not going to get jumped on when I go for my morning coffee.
As you can see, I’m hot on the trail of rocks at present. I’m still not happy with any photos that I have taken so far but I’m giving myself an A for Effort especially as the giant temperature gauge in town said that it was 36 degrees today.
The photo below is from Butcher’s Dam where I was yesterday. I went back today to rephotograph this rock that I had noticed. It’s as if I have a built in geiger counter/metal detector that tells me that there is something in front of me that I need to pay attention to even if I don’t know why.
Yet when I see this it immediately reminds me of another photo that I
took a couple of weeks ago, the photo below of a cloud.
Perhaps it’s the shapes, the spaces, that attract me. In other words,it’s not the ‘subject’ that’s the point, the template is.
Here is another example from ten years ago.
This region is famous for its rocks and I wouldn’t like to leave here without taking at least one photo which does them justice. It may take me the entire 11 months that is remaining but I’ll keep searching. The photo above is not mine, but shows the kind of the formations commonly found here. I think that an episode in Lord of the Rings was filmed in Otago.
Today was my first attempt to go out looking for rocks with my camera. I drove about 5 minutes to a place called Butcher’s Dam and parked in a DOC carpark before setting off exploring on foot. This photo, below, not very strong but a beginning, was taken at a small lake in which, because of the hot and dry summer, the water level is very low. Normally this rock would be covered.
Gold Fever
Alexandra, where I am living is a town to a large extent built on gold fever.
While early methods of extraction were of relatively low ecological impact, eventually large dredges were built. These dredges sifted through large areas, leaving rocky tailings which are now a feature of much of the land around here, though many on them now hidden by willows and poplars.
The dredge in the photo above was one of the largest and one of the last to operate in the area, not ceasing work until the early 50’s. I like the way it looks like something from ‘Alien‘. The photo is from the Turnbull Library. I wish I’d taken it.
Some of the tailings a few minutes away from where I live are a reserve, they can be seen in the Google Earth image below. The river is the Clutha.
I have been walking over the tailings hoping that somewhere in there is a photograph.
I took several images, an example is below, but so far no luck. I think that I need more
elevation.
Rats
I have rats wanting to share this house with me, I hear the pitter patter of their little feet as they run around in the ceiling in the night. Alan, the caretaker, who handily, lives next door, has been laying poison, one large dose of which is in a kitchen cupboard.
I noticed that over the last few days it has been going down.
Yesterday as I got up and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea I could hear scrabbling noises coming from the cupboard with the bait. Gingerly I opened the door. There was a rat on its back, with it legs paddling in the air. I slammed the door shut immediately and went for Alan’s help.
I did have an idea that there might be a photo in it so before I heaved the carcass over a steep bank in front of this house, I took a took a couple of snaps, but for some reason the head shot is slightly out of focus. The tail one is fine.
I don’t feel like going down the bank to retrieve the body so I will let it go.
Likeness & Character
I was in the Auckland CBD yesterday morning and with an hour or two to spare
decided to nip into the Auckland Art Gallery, or the half of it that is open now that the main building is closed indefinitely for alterations.
While in the foyer, one of the security people kindly told me that there were 3 of my photos on display. This was a surprise to me. The exhibition, a collection show called Likeness & Character, is on until April 20th.
I don’t do a lot of portraits, this one was made about 3 years ago.
Man is in the Forest
Last night I was in Auckland and able to watch a Japanese children’s television programme on NHK. I have no idea
what this programme what about but I was intrugued by the way this deer, Sika in Japanese, had forks for antlers.
(The line, Man is in the Forest, comes from the Bambi film. Bambi was the first movie that I ever remember seeing and it’s been on my mind lately because I’ve been writing some biographical material. In it I describe how it was a raw movie of love, death and loss. I cried when they fled from the forest fire and Bambi’s mother was shot by hunters. Man was the enemy, the destroyer.)
The Press
The title of this posting is a link to an interview of me published on Wednesday, in The Press. It is the only daily paper in Christchurch.
The image above was taken near McRaes Flat in Otago, where there is a fence, with runs for a couple of hundred metres, draped with skins. There is a variety, wild goats, pigs, the occasional sheep, and possum. Here is another photo from the scene.
The other famous fence in Otago, near Wanaka, which was draped with bras, is no more. It was becoming such a traffic hazard that they have been removed.
Jigsaw Time
Yesterday I took this photo of reflections. I took several but this is the only one
that I think has something extra. But most of all it gives me the feeling that I would love to see it as a jigsaw. There has only been one other photo that I have ever taken that I have felt this way about and it is the one below. I took it last August in a b & b in Oamaru.
Reflections
There are subjects in photography that are just irresistible, and seem to
have been that way ever since the medium’s invention.
Autumnal landscapes with reflections in the water is one, cloud formations another.
The reflections in the water theme is one that I’ve been brought up with, often on the lid of biscuit tins or chocolate boxes. Calendars were another big source. Metal trays and jigsaws too.
Being such well trodden tracks does make it difficult to say anything original. It’s the same way with the human nude. However, that does not mean that its not worth trying even if its just for fun!
These two photos I’ve taken in the last couple of days, I’m beginning to get out and about with my camera. Taking photos like these is almost like practising your scales, they’re warm up exercises.
The cloud photo has come a little closer to being a keeper though. It has something interesting about it, and I don’t feel inclined to discard it just yet. I’ve set it as my screensaver.
The lake in the photo above, about 10 minutes from where I am living, freezes over in winter and is a popular site for ice skating. No doubt I will be revisiting it then, although whether with a pair of skates and in a slinky lycra outfit, I’m not so sure. I don’t think that Torvil and Dean have anything to worry about.