Blog

Peter was a great believer in communicating about photography and got into blogging in its early days.

His blog ran, with some gaps, from 30 November 2006 to 2 September 2018.

You can visit the earliest entries via archived links on the right hand side of this page.

Burwell House, Invercargill.

Tomorrow, Monday, I leave New Plymouth to live in this house for four months as artist-in-residence. Rather grand looking I think. And I’m assured that it is warm.

I’m driving down, allowing at least a week. Thursday I’m in Christchurch I know.


Gourds

An elderly couple who have a small stall outside their house selling produce from their garden, recently they’ve been putting out a large number of small gourds for sale. At 50 cents each I have been stocking up!

Here is the first photo that I feel has something in it that I want to pursue.

Jervois Road

I took this photo in about 1989. It’s Jervois Road in Auckland, where Ponsonby meets Herne Bay, where Curran Street leads to the harbour bridge. Although it wasn’t the reason that I took the photo, I do notice that the shape of Jervois Rd reminds me of NZ. The neatness of the rows of houses is also very interesting to me.

Twice I chartered a small plane, with pilot, to fly me over some parts of Auckland. By having him fly as slowly as possible, and by bracing myself against the wind I was able to put my camera out the window and take some images. I don’t that I’ve ever published this one.

At the time I thought how much they reminded me of the Whites Aviation images that were such a feature of walls when I was young. Below are some of their c1952 photos of Auckland Central, and Waiheke Island, grey prints rather badly scanned on my failing scanner, unfortunately. Remember that if you click on these images you will be able to see more detail.

An overwhelming impression that the photos leave, is of a treeless land, of the hills having been scraped clean.

Here is Ostend, Waiheke Island, now so much more verdant.

Palm Seeds
Near me, in Pukekura Park, there is a small palm tree that drops these vivid seeds.


Tongariro National Park

This is a view in or near Tongariro National Park, in the alpine centre of the North Island of New Zealand.

I found this little photo in a file, not sure if I have the negative still but hopefully so.

The photo was taken about 20 years ago, now I would like to see it bigger. I can see why I was attracted to the scene in the first place.

I’ve tried to revisit this spot a couple of times, but the weather conditions made it too difficult. The photo above was taken in summer.

I am gathering all my negatives, including colour, together in preparation for the arrival of a new scanner. It is capable of making high quality scans from negatives and I want to begin methodically working through what I have. It is possible that there will be images in there that I would like to look at. It will be a big project but worth it. I’ll be able to make contact sheets as I go.


Frankfurt

In the second half of the 90’s I spent some time in Frankfurt. It was an important experience for me yet I didn’t take many photos.

During some deep-level tidying up yesterday, worthy of an archaeologist, I uncovered six pairs of postcard sized prints that I made when I came back to NZ. They are the only two images that I have of Frankfurt.

I’m not sure why I made them this size but I may have been planning to use them as presents for friends,or to use them as real postcards. Sometimes I used to do that.



Sumo
I’ve been following a sumo tournament on NHK, a Japanese television station supplied through SKY. At the top level there are only six of these sumo tournaments per year. They start on a Sunday and finish on the Sunday fifteen days later. Bouts are held during the day, and end promptly at 6 pm. When the spectators approve of a wrestler they throw their seat cushions into the ring something that seemed to amuse me greatly.

The Sumo tradition, is thought to be a couple of thousand years old. The referees dress in the style of Shinto priests. I tried to photograph a referee from the television image but didn’t manage on this occasion.

Here is the scoreboard after 12 matches. I think that the leaders is the score in red.


Pukekura Park
Often I walk through Pukekura Park and, while it’s good exercise, I’m always on the lookout for something to photograph. Here is a scene from the hothouse there. I’m living with this photo for a while to see if I can come to understand it more. There is something in the scene that draws me in.


Wanganui

A couple of days ago I was browsing through the museum in Wanganui and was attracted by the look of this lizard skeleton. The foot in particular I think, although the vertebrae make a repetition that I like too.

I don’t mind the way in which the light flared off the label. It might even add to the photo in some way. I wouldn’t have wanted any words there to interfere with the other rhythms.

A technical point is that this photo was taken with a camphone which because the light was low, I pressed hard against the thick glass of the display cabinet. Camera shake is a problem with camphones, and by doing this I’ve sharpened the image up considerably.

Here are the recently restored, steps leading up the hill to the Sarjeant Gallery. Camphone again.

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