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.
Cloud Appreciation Society
By entering New Zealand in the search window you will see some New Zealand clouds. On the home page there is information about the site including books and T-shirts!
Meanwhile, here are three of my cloud photos, taken from my balcony.
Americarna.It has been an opportunity to have a close look at about 50 Harley-Davidsons and their owners, many of whom looked wonderfully like Willie Nelson. I admire the Harley-Davidson design ethic, it has a presence, even if I don’t like all the designs equally. Above however, is a snap of the bike that I liked the most. It’s from the V-Rod series. I don’t know what a new one in New Zealand would cost but here is a 2003 model for sale on Trade-me for $NZ23,000. Do click on the small photo to see just what an impressive machine this is, in appearance at least.
Here, to finish this posting is a photograph of my father on his Harley, with sidecar. I don’t know exactly when this was but he was born in 1904 and I would guess this to be taken in the 30’s. He died at the age of 91 and until the end of his life he carried gravel in his elbows and knees, as a result of coming off this bike on gravel roads, once as a result of on a dark night night, hitting a cow. (Again, as with any photo on this site, by clicking on the image, it can be enlarged.)
Hercules
It’s a lot of fun when friends send me their photos
because the images remind them of my style. It’s like a conversation.
Here is a photo taken by Tomislav Krpan,
a friend of mine from Auckland. Tomislav knows
that not only is the composition similar to what I use, but the subject matter is one that I am
interested in. I have even made a photo of a Hercules. The Hercules, or Lockheed C-130 to give them their full name, operate out of Whenuapai, where the RNZAF has 5.
When I lived at Herald Island, which is right off the end of the runway at Whenuapai, these planes were a constant source of pleasure for me.
In the sidebar to the right, I have posted a link to Artlife, an Australian site, which although at times quite wordy, has excellent material on it. An example is this short film below made by Man Ray, in 1923, although the music has been added later.
The speckles in the first few frames are salt and pepper. One of the shapes that appears is an egg crate. The model is the famous Kiki de Montparnasse, muse to many.
Man Ray (Man is short for Emmanuel) was an artist who was an important part of my photographic education.
Len Lye Again.
Firstly I want to thank those kind people who have sent me messages of support for my campaign to save one of New Plymouth’s historic buildings from demolition. See my posting below, Monday 19th Feb.
I never met Len Lye but did wonder what his attitude towards the destruction of the Regent building would be, especially as the site is to be cleared in order to construct ‘A World Centre for Len Lye’.
Last night I consulted the Roger Horrocks biography of him and there on page 283 I think I found the answer. In 1960, Len and his wife, Ann, were active in a campaign against New York City’s plan to ‘redevelop’ the area by demolishing old houses, houses in which many artists had their studios. His wind wands were used in protest, and the Village Voice described the event under the headline, ‘Swaying Mobile Is Art’s Ode to West Village Battle‘.
The Crematorium
Recently the local crematorium had an open day, or to be more exact, an open evening.
Visitors such as myself, who had to register beforehand, were taken on a tour of the facilities, and given information on legal issues, procedures, options, etc.
Of course there were no funerals or cremations under way, and I didn’t take any photos, not just because I didn’t see anything that I wanted to photograph, but because it wouldn’t have seemed very cool to pull out a camera!
I learnt a lot. What surprised me, for example, was that when the burning is completed, usually depending on the size of the body, after about one and a half hours, some of the large bones such as the femur are still intact. Usually they are put into a grinding machine (I saw theirs) and the resulting ashes all put into a container.
However, it is permissable for the family to request that some of these large bones be kept intact and handed back along with the ash. I suppose that the large bones are not in great shape but it did seem an interesting option, one which apparently some people have chosen. It has a certain appeal for me. I think that I would quite like the bones of some of my ancestors. It certainly seems like an option that I would consider, not that I am taking orders for any of my bones just yet, unless perhaps Te Papa made me good offer, money in advance.
I was also interested in what happens to metal that might be in the body. Mercury and gold vapourises and goes up the chimney, but titanium, such as I have in my skull, does not. It too can be requested by the family, so if you want your aunty’s artificial hip on your mantelpiece, that is an option. Usual practice though is that the crematorium disposes of the titanium left behind in the ovens.
Roughly 80% of New Zealanders are now cremated, although the rate is slightly lower in Taranaki, apparently attributable to the high number of Catholics in this province. Although Catholics are now permitted by their church to be cremated there is still a slight preference for burial. (Although I am an atheist, on my mother’s side I am Catholic Taranaki, and I enjoy going to cemeteries here and looking at the names of relations, going back many generations.)
