Auckland

Auckland CBD

 
 
Over my life I have spent quite a bit of time
in the Auckland CBD
but recently I’ve been having a closer look
at the buildings and the changes
that this area is going through.
 
Above is a photo of Queen St.
 

Auckland CBD

 
 
Lately I have been walking around the
Auckland CBD quite a bit.
 
I hadn’t realised how many apartment
blocks there were. This is a very
densely populated part of New Zealand.
 
I think that I was attracted to this building
because of its colours.
 

Two Auckland Views

 
 
Here are a couple of views of Auckland
that I saw recently and couldn’t resist
having a look at via my camera.
 
I have noticed that when I do make
cityscape photos like this I do have a
tendency to make them look post-apocalyptic,
or at the least, like something from the
Communist era. There are never any
open windows, or people on the footpaths.
 
In fact even now, when I look at the
photo below I find myself itching
to get Photoshop to work and remove
the lights from the windows.

About 30 years ago when
I was just starting as a photographer
I was asked if I would take a series of
publicity photos for Parnell, which
at that time was rapidly being gentrified,
and was working on building it’s image.
I approached the task with gusto,
there was a fee, that was an added
inducement. When I showed the first dozen
or so photos to the person supervising the project
it was amicably agreed that perhaps I was
not the right person for the job.
The entire bunch of photos made
Parnell look like Chernobyl.

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.