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.
Kereru 2006Of this edition there are two left for sale. Anyone interested in a possible purchase of one of these, or any other photos, either contact me directly, or please ring Hamish McKay on 0274 368368, or Paul McNamara on 027 2498059. Or if you prefer, use a dealer or agent of your choice.
‘A World Centre For Len Lye.’
Here in New Plymouth we have fervent group of people pushing to raise $10M to build a
centre to house and promote the collection of Len Lye material that has been gifted to this city.
In the last week they have been particularly active, although personally I’m not entirely convinced by their thinking. However, apart from not attending their rallies, I’ve been very silent because, surprisingly enough, I like to lead the quiet life, and just get on with my work.
But one thing I no longer want to be silent about is that they are intending to smash down the Regent building. It is one of the most special heritage buildings in this city and understandably
they have not publicised their intentions. Even though many New Plymouth residents are opposed to the Len Lye Foundations activities they don’t yet realise that this building is in grave danger. Most think that the Foundation is going to be established inside the the Regent. There has been nothing in the local press about the building’s demolition and I’ll predict that when the news does break there will be strong opposition.
Conus Litteratus
This is a Conus marmoreus that I photographed about 10 years ago. It became one of the most popular photos that I ever made. The idea for it came from a 1650 Rembrandt etching that I saw in Germany. I bought the shell in Germany as well. An interesting point about the Rembrandt etching is that the shell is in reverse, the opening of the shell always goes the other way. He must have etched it the correct way around, and then in the etching process it became reversed.
In 2001, as I collected more of these shells,
In turn, this reminded me of a still life that I made in 1982.
MusicA bonus for me is that I have quite a lot of written music in the house. I find it an inspiration just to look at it even if I am years away from being able to play much of it.
I love the look of music and above have posted one of my favourites. It is some Bach. There is something about the arrangement of notes that thrills me. What it sounds like I don’t know, unless I resort to a CD. (click on the image to make it bigger.)
The second photo is one I made perhaps 20 years ago. I even called it Zoo Music.
At the same time as Zoo Music, I was obsessed with the idea of photographing mathematical calculations in particular those of Albert Einstein who died in 1955. In a biography I saw some of the pages that contained his last calculations. They looked so interesting, purely from a visual point of view, even though I am reasonable at maths I couldn’t follow them in the least. The papers were, I think, in an archive at Princeton Unversity, and I remember at the time being keen to go to Princeton to make a photo. Unfortunately it is a long way away and I didn’t make it.
The closest that I got to Einstein was to visit Lawrence, Kansas, where until the late 90’s his brain resided. It was then sent to Princeton.
Meanwhile, it got me thinking about the similarities between this candle photo and one that I took of an et al sculpture, shown here at the Govett-Brewster, in New Plymouth, a couple of years ago.
I can see how there are certain visual similarities between the two subjects. I must have been photographing the et al, primarily because of the shapes within it.
In daylight hours cave weta like to roost in caves or at least in dark overhanging places such as under a rock. They are very quiet, in fact they have no ears and make no sound. There are 60 species of cave weta in New Zealand. They can jump 2 metres.
These cave weta are in the Waitakeres, in West Auckland and are sitting on concrete.
On returning home I was welcomed by this weta clinging to my backdoor. For overseas
visitors to my site, these are native cricket-like insects that have, in the absence of land mammals here in New Zealand, taken over the ecological niche usually occupied by rats & mice. Flightless, they prefer to forage at night.
This weta is welcome, because its presence is a sign to me that the biodiversity of this 1/4 acre is improving.
Neil Dawson‘s Ferns 1998
In Civic Square, outside the Wellington City Gallery. I was there along with
several hundred others over the weekend because Telecom Prospect 2007, opened on Saturday evening. Of the 43 artists in the show (not me) 35 were in attendance.
Here is the City Gallery itself. Originally it was a library. The library
is now in the blue building on the left.
I will write something about the Prospect exhibition. I’m thinking about what I want to say, and how I’m going to say it.
Sandpit Scene