An Early Work
One benefit of my work showing up in auctions
as it often does is that I sometimes see images that
are quite rare, and not often seen.
In the latest Webbs catalogue I
have seven prints for sale.
I have no idea where they
have been all these years.
Amongst the seven there is this portrait
which is one of my favourites out of all the
photographs that I have ever taken.
I don’t know how many prints of this
image are in existence but it is probably
only 3 or 4.
I’m not sure of the exact date that I took
this photo but it was probably about
1980.
In 1981 Sheridan Keith wrote an essay on my work, entitled Frontierland,
which was published in London Magazine,
illustrated below. It is a powerful piece of writing.
Erika Parkinson, to whom I was married at the time,
said to me one day that she had met a woman with
a very interesting face and perhaps
she would be a good subject for a portrait.
Upon meeting her I agreed, and Donna Yuzwalk very kindly
volunteered to sit for me, although sit seems a
rather strange word to use in this case.
So here Donna is, standing in front of a river
in Kaukapakapa. Why a river? Well, for some
reason I was going through a phase where
I was hoping to take photos to illustrate
some of the poems that I had learnt by
heart as a schoolboy. In this case you are
looking at The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson.