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.

Home Again- Aim Low In Future

I apologise for the delay between postings. In Auckland so much seemed to happen, far more that I had planned. I realise now that the list of objectives I took there with me was just too too long. It created expectations that left no room for the extras which came my way, so many of which, as usual, turned out to be so important.

I hadn’t even left room for the weather for example, which at times was monsoon like, warm, heavy, giant heavy drops, and quite wonderful, except when you are wanting to criss-cross Auckland’s ever changing roads in a car that you have never driven before.

And I hadn’t left room for being in cafes and, lo and behold, there was someone that I hadn’t seen for years, but was delighted and nourished by reconnecting with them.

The lesson for me is to aim low. My parents, my teachers, and my priests, all said the same thing: aim high. It was an approach hardwired into me over the decades. In recent years though I’ve seen just how it hasn’t, as an aphorism, got it quite right. If you let go you leave space for things to happen. I got it wrong on this trip, I tried to do too much, and as a result, my time became rushed and crowded. My blogging suffered and I am sorry about that. It’s vital to defrag. Today, and probably tomorrow as well I’m paying the price.

Auckland Again.

I’m back in Auckland for a week, housesitting for friends while they’re in Sydney. It’s a chance to spend a few days here, enjoying the valuables this city has to offer. And of course, most importantly look for a new photograph.

This home uses a Mac which I’ve never used before. I’ve only used PC’s. It’s taken me a few hours to find my way around the controls of this Mac, and that is only the tiniest start. My impression is that the Mac is silky, and relaxing.

On Monday I went to see a tailor, Gus McKay about having a suit made for me. I cannot remember when I last owned a suit but it must be at least 30 years. I know I got married in one, and then I would have been in my early 20’s and I was born in 1941!

Gus, is the brother of Wellington art dealer Hamish McKay. Serendipitously, Gus works out of my old studio on the 6th floor of Lister Building, where I was for several years in the early 90’s. After Rembrandt was printed there. My darkroom is now a luxurious bathroom. Lister Building, right in the middle of town, is in Victoria Street opposite the Victoria Street Carpark, 50 steps from Queen Street, the plumb centre of the CBD. After the economic slump post 1987 CBD rents , it almost not to strong to put it this way… collapsed. Lister Building was one of the sites to which we congregated. Karen Walker was on floor above, Greg Gibb my dentist was opposite. Over the years that is where I had many fillings, crowns, partials.
All propping up my snaggle teeth. No matter how much I took care of them, it just seems that they were genetically soft.

On the bookcase here, where I am housesitting for Julian Dashper and Marie Shannon, there is a little volume called Strangeland, by Tracey Emin. I was encouraged when I saw how openly Tracey Emin spoke about her dental work eg her crumbling front teeth.

In my Taranaki computer I have a photo of Lister Building. On Monday I’ll be able to show it to you. It’s one of the most intact Chicago Style buildings in Auckland, although at present, painted in the way that it is, you would scarcely recognise it.

Sculpture-Hamish McKay Gallery.
Here is a sculpture that I exhibited at Hamish’s about 10 years ago. The blue was the paint left over from my Herald Island house which was the colour of the Tongan Royal Family. The previous owner had been part of that family, Queen Salote used to visit in her black Cadillac but not while I lived there.

Since then I have used this blue a couple of times since. Most recently on my New Plymouth house although I have changed it slightly, now I use Resene Tranquil. My house and studio is now entirely painted in Tranquil, there are no other colours at all apart from the white ceilings. Certainly there are no window frames picked out.

Studio View.
A section of my studio. The toy crane in the foreground I bought at least 10 years ago. Many times I’ve tried to photograph it. The green object behind is a section of poenamu, commonly in New Zealand, called greenstone, although found around the world and generally called jade. Notice the whitish crust that stones of pounamu often have. I bought this piece from an eldery man here in New Plymouth, with the aim of one day making some of my own jewellery. So far the only jewellery that I have made has been been from Fimo.

The two dark objects on either side of the pounamu are ventifacts. Old rocks shaped by the wind. There is a field of these in Taranaki although taking of the rocks is strictly forbidden. Both of these ventifacts were bought from collectors. Again, I have these with the aim of photographing them but so far no luck.

Crown Knot.
Six or seven years ago I seemed to become especially interested in photographing knots. Not only when I was a boy, but later, when working on trucks, I learnt to admire and respect these intriguing yet supremely functional creations. In my teens I worked on the Auckland wharves as a ‘seagull’ the name then used for casual wharf labour. There is no casual wharf labour now. This was before containers, heavy, awkward, sacks of cement were unloaded by passing from one man to the next. It was physical, well paid, and because of the repetitive lifting, as a bonus, very bodybuilding. There was also a cachet to the occupation, it was an age of Kerouac & Camus. And it gave you time to read. Others were doing it as well. Although It was low fees at university and a time when it was relatively easy to try out papers. In trying-out-ed-ness, I did my best. I regret none, not Annie Shepherd’s lectures on Old English or the microscope study and appendant drawings that I enjoyed, every week, in Botany& Zoology. The microscope was an excellent introduction to the camera. When I look back on my life I feel very fortunate to have met good teachers, teachers who were bigger than their subjects. Not often, but often enough to make a big difference. Paul Ohms did that for me, in Biology, at Takapuna Grammar.
I was a lab boy then. Setting out, in our break time but paid all the same, the experiments for the next class eg the dissection of the reproductive system of the earthworm.

Denis Cohn

Denis was my art dealer in Auckland. He sold Les & Milly Paris the first photographs
that they ever bought. They later went on to build a collection that included around 50 of my images.

What I notice about Denis is that everyone always speaks well of him. He seems to have no enemies. He was a gentleman, and a good person to be in business with. I am sad that he is no longer here.

Note. Clicking on the obituary by Hamish Keith, above, should enlarge it to more readable proportions.


Camping Waiheke. The dark blue shape on the right, under the plum tree is my tent. I slept in this tent for four nights, draped over by heavily fruiting branches. I went on a plum diet.

The plums in the top photo are in a Devonport garden where I stayed on Thursday night, after leaving Waiheke.

Waiheke Island, Christmas Eve 2006

When I first saw this structure, while out for a walk on Waiheke Island, I saw how it was the boat cradle photo taken at Ngawi, just posted hours before. I was surprised. It seemed at the time, as if I had chosen the Ngawi completely randomly so the Waiheke photo had the jolt of coincidence. I enjoy this new version, it seems lighter. It’s arrival was completely unexpected. I had my camphone on me and used it to take a number of views of this….actually, I’m not sure what it is. A boat cradle?

My camphone has a fingernail sized card that photos are recorded on. For some reason this particular card seems to be having trouble loading up from my card reader into a computer even though I have done it before. I need to look into it, but meanwhile I e-mailed this photo from my camphone, to my computer, for placing on this site. (Soon it will be possible to go directly from cell phone photo to posting.)

I was pleased and relieved that I was able to e this particular photo this way, as of all the pictures that I took on Waiheke, at the moment, I find this one the most interesting, and I didn’t want to lose it.

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