Recent work
There's no particular theme here, just a miscellany of photos made over the past twelve months or so, all of them here in New Zealand.
(30 photos - updated October 2024)
Relics
Leftovers from an earlier time, no longer used. In paddocks and beaches, hilltops and roadsides, neglected, rotting and rusting, lieing or leaning, captured on film and card, remembered.
(24 photos - added March 2017)
Kaikoura Coast - before the earthquake
I travel New Zealand's Kaikoura Coast from time to time to get from here to there and there to here - somtimes by air but mostly by road. I enjoy the place and love the road. In recent years I've also enjoyed the town of Kaikoura as a place for overnight stops.
These were all taken prior to the earthquake of 14 November 2016 and span several decades.
(30 photos - added November 2016)
The Wairarapa
In the late 1980s I chose to leave the big city and make my home in the small town of Featherston, in the Wairarapa region. Here are a few photographs from this part of New Zealand.
(24 photos - updated July 2022)
A Few Words on Pictures
From a book project I'm working on...
"The language of a photograph doesn't require that it contain words - but sometimes they happen to be there. Words have found their way into many of my pictures - sometimes by accident, but mostly by choice." (18 photos)
From a 50 year old Pentax
March 2016 - my main camera was away for repairs. I had other options but decided to see if my Pentax Spotmatic would still work. It dates from the 1960s and I'd bought it in 1970. I purchased some black and white film, chucked in a new battery and carried it around until my main camera was returned.
In September 2016, I took some more.
These were taken in Masterton, the Hutt Valley and Wellington. (24 photos)
Canada
A few pictures from a trip to Canada in 2011.
Some of these are from the Vancouver area, others from in and around Toronto and Niagara. Yet more are of places in between, while crossing Canada by train.
(18 photos)
1981 - The dark hours
Forty one years ago, in 1981, the South African rugby team visited to play in New Zealand. Many felt the tour shouldn't happen because of the racist apartheid regime in place in South Africa at that time. There were protests in the streets and at rubgy matches.
I was in Wellington at the time and that's where these photos were taken - after dark, in the streets and at Civic Square.
(30 photos - updated February 2021)
1981 - The daylight hours
Protests continued throughout the Springbok rugby tour. At the games, the sporting fields were surrounded with barbed wire, and riot police were deployed to prevent protesters from invading the pitch.
These photos are of events I observed in Wellington: street marches, the second rugby test match held at Athletic Park, and related activity.
(24 photos)
Philippines - the markets
One thing I love to photograph in the Philippines is the public markets. They're visually exciting, noisy, crowded places, and in the narrower alleyways there's hardly enough room to swing a camera.
(18 photos)
Philippines - the jeepneys
The highly decorated jeepneys of the Philippines seem to me to just cry out to be photographed. They're mostly a means of public transport but some also carry goods and sellers of produce.
(18 photos)
One day in Wellington - 17 May 1979
I was working in Lambton Quay at this time and protest marches along the street were common. On this occasion the march related to the annual Opening of Parliament ceremony.
(18 photos)
One day in Wellington - 25 January 1982
It was Monday 25 January 1982 - Wellington Anniversary Day.
I can't remember how I became aware of a fire across town. I think I just saw some smoke and went to investigate. On the north-west side of Tory Street, between Jessie and Ebor Streets and about one km from where I was living, a pair of two-storeyed buildings were on fire.
(18 photos)
One day in Wellington - 17 December 1983
The Sun Festival was a multi-media theatrical spectacle to celebrate the start of Wellington's Summer City programme for 1983/84. It involved music, dance, banners made by local schools, a procession of about 1000 children supported by actors and musicians playing out a 'legend' written epecifically for the event in Wellington's Oriental Bay. The Legend of the Seven Stars concluded with a fireworks display on and above the harbour.
I was living in the Bay at the time. It was great having events like this on my back doorstep.
(18 photos - added December 2016)
One day in Wellington - 15 December 1984
The Mardi Gras in Oriental Bay was an annual event in the 1980s and part of Wellington's Summer City programme. It involved cultural performances of dance and music, children's entertainment, food stalls, and concluded with a fireworks display.
(18 photos - added December 2016)
Singapore
I spent four days in Singapore in 2013 - rode the subway and the cableway, explored Orchard Road, Sentosa Island, Marina Bay Sands area and the morning markets.
(18 photos)
Top of the North - a 1986 road trip
In April 1986 I drove north through Auckland and then began my first visit to Northland. I travelled up through the settlements and bays on the eastern coast, then back south visiting the western side including the Hokianga area and further south to Dargeville.
(30 photos - added November 2019)
Top of the South - another 1986 road trip
In October 1986 I crossed Cook Strait on the ferry and drove around the Marlborough and Nelson regions, including the Golden Bay area. I've not been to Golden Bay since - I must go back!
(30 photos)
Wellington - Oriental Bay
Wellington's Oriental Bay can be a place to just sit and gaze at the harbour with the city skyline beyond. Or a place to swim in, or jog around, or walk the dog beside, or to live.
I lived here for a few years in the early to mid 1980s and most of these pictures date from that time.
(24 photos - updated December 2016)
The West Coast Years
I lived on the South Island's West Coast for several years during the 1970s. The river port at Greymouth was more than just a base for the fishing fleet - there were also colliers shipping out coal from the numerous local mines. Most of these photos date from that time with some taken on more recent visits.
(18 photos)
The Southland Years
Southland was where I became seriously interested in photography. It was here in 1970 that I set up my first darkroom, built my own enlarger and began using one camera loaded with slide film and another with black and white.
(24 photos)