themes


Bonsai

A couple of postings ago I raised the subject of how one of my themes
concerns size, more specifically, just how big is the subject that
we are looking at. Here is another example of a photo that illustrates that point.

About 18 months ago I discovered that there was a major grower of bonsai in
New Plymouth. Although he is unable to be too public about his collection because
of the danger of being robbed, he was generous towards me in allowing me unlimited access to his beloved plants. This Japanese pine he has been growing for about 40 years.

The photo is small and I printed it in quite a large edition with the aim of it being an
inexpensive Christmas photo, although as much as I like it, it did not really sell that well.
It is possible that its time will come, perhaps not.

I’ve written on this topic partly because I have a number of students e-mailing me with questions, and ‘what are my themes?’ is one of the most common. Another one is ‘what are your influences?’


What Theme Is That?

I am often asked, by students mainly, what my themes are. I’m not sure myself although
I do know the theme of ‘just how big is this’ is one of them.

I had to go to Queenstown today, a town all agog because Ozzy and Sharon Osborne are holidaying there and making lots of friends. On the way up I was mesmerised by the colour of
autumn leaves caught in the morning sunlight. They looked as if they were on fire. At one stage, after driving past some, notwithstanding the traffic I turned around and went back to have another look. The photo didn’t work out but I was glad that I had a go otherwise it would have been gnawing away at me tonight.

On the way home however I saw this rock, found a place to park my car and managed to take this photo. What appeals to me about it is that although it looks huge it is only about 4 metres tall. I also like the cleft in the peak. Of all the photos that I have taken in the 6 weeks that I have been in Central Otago this is one that I like the best.