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.

1982

These are two works of mine made in the early 80’s when I had been photographing for about 7 years. I have resurrected them because I want to compare them with works that I am making at present. They seem similar.

In the top image I used a piece of trellis, with any protruding bits sawn off and cut to the proportion that I wanted it. Then, on a sunny day, with a helper, made these photographs on a nearby tennis court. They were in the 1982 Sydney Biennale.

The photos of the basket etc, was often sold as a pair. I made some little versions at the time and gave quite a few away.

Here are two recent ones that I am printing up at present. The shell will be released in an edition of six in a few days.


Office work

Paper clips from my office. I bought a set of these designer clips about a year ago from the Govett-Brewster shop, but just the other day when I was straightening up my desk, these two suddenly caught my attention. I’ve tried rearranging them but this seems to be the placement that I strenuously like and it is very precise. The water diviner in me says ‘let’s drill here’.

Just to check what the image looks like with the colour taken out, I’ve made this:


Now I’ll make little prints to help me assess, and decide upon the next step. Often my next step is to do nothing further and move on, but living with a photo for a few days is usually more than enough time to decide yes or no. They have to clear the bar.


Racecourses

For some time I’ve admired these towers that racecourses often have. This one, that I photographed today, is at the Taranaki Racing Club. I was reminded of a beach scene I photographed in Denmark. I was there because of some WW2 bunkers. Bunkers that were built with slave labour as a German defense against a possible large scale Allied invasion but which are now sinking into the sand. There were towers there too, just like the one above.


Francis Bacon’s Studio Floor

Tidying Up

Over the last few days I’ve been going through my clothes, discarding some, and looking at better ways to store the rest. In the back of one of my cupboards I found this tie or belt hanger that I had bought years ago. I always liked it more to look at than to use. If anything, I like it more and more. I gave up using it some time ago.

I’m going to make a print this photo so that I can live with it for a few days. To see if it’s a keeper.


John Deakin 1912 – 1972

I came across this John Deakin photo Lucien Freud, in a recent book called, Francis Bacon’s Studio. I remember how in the late 70’s, when I first saw this image, it impressed me so much that I even tried to imitate it! Deep in one of my files is a print of the result but I wouldn’t be able to put my hands on it right now without some rummaging I’m afraid. I would like to find it though. In it I was wearing a secondhand suit i remember.

John Deakin’s photos drew me when I first saw them, and now, as over the last few days, I revisit them, they still stick to the ribs. They are unwawering. Here is a portrait of Francis Bacon, and below that Prunella Scales.


Nicholas Nixon

I am often asked which photographers make work that interests me. American Nicholas Nixon is one. One of his projects is to photograph these four sisters every year. He has been doing this since 1975. Bebe, the woman on the left, is his wife. The subjects are always arranged in the same order.

At present, he has a new body of work called Patients on show at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco. If you enter their site, you will find your way to some installation shots.

Kotare & Kereru

This photograph of kotare, the kingfisher, was kindly sent to me a day or so ago by Paul Ward. I’ve never met Paul, but was intrigued to see this image amongst the other bird photos that he sent to me.

It of course, reminds me of a photo that I took a few months ago. Of Kereru, the pigeon. Paul’s photo was taken a couple of years before mine.


Sand Sculpture
On a nearby beach, fresh water trickles its way toward the sea, and in the process leaves these formations. I’m struggling so far to make a photo that successfully carries my experiencing of the structure but I will keep looking. This is my second visit. There is some urgency as the structure may disappear.

TUI


A couple of years ago a carpenter built me a bird-feeding table on my balcony. Jutting out over a valley it is a convenient cat free site, that quickly enticed birds of many varieties. After a few months however I decided to see if any tui would come and feed off a syrup, one cup sugar to one litre of water, that I was leaving for them.

For more than a year I had no luck even though tui were coming into nearby trees. Two or three months ago the first tui began visiting. After another month or so later there were two, and now there are four. I can approach to within about 3 metres of them, although they are getting tamer. The photo above was taken this morning.

Two weeks ago I was concerned when I noticed a rat sitting in the sugar container, it’s tail draped over the side. The night before I heard one running across the ceiling of my bedroom so it was not a total surprise. It was not myself that I was concerned about but the birds who might nest in my garden. Rats are such agile climbers that few nests would be safe. I laid poison several nights in a row but it has it has taught me that I should lay bait using a proper dispenser, on a semi-permanent basis. I want this to be a sanctuary and I have planted a couple of hundred native trees, many of them providing food for birds.

I would like to make a portrait of a tui, they have such strong faces. I believe that if I could set up a plain background behind the feeding container perhaps I could succeed. I would want to be close, although a very long telephoto would be interesting to try. I don’t have one at present. A camera that could be fired using a remote I would also like to experiment with.

However, at present I’m working on gaining the confidence of these visitors. I don’t always leave food out, I bring it in at night, for example. I do this so that the birds associate me with food thereby seeing me as a friend. It is touching to see one or two on the table, waiting for me in the morning.

As far as I know, tui are the only NZ birds that can to be taught to ‘talk’. I heard a most chatty one at Mt Bruce, in the Wairarapa. Certainly Maori trained and prized them for their abilities to recite. They also used tui as a food source.

PS. Next day. A visitor to my site has kindly sent me a link to the Whangarei Bird Recovery Centre where they has a tui called Woof Woof. Here are some videos of him saying a few phrases in what sounds like a NZ Pakeha accent.

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