Moments in history.

I am interested in all aspects of our history; Natural history, Maori Culture, European explorers, meetings and encounters they had. From the Early 1800's there are paintings and drawings of all kinds of aspects of early New Zealand. The invention of the camera which Europeans brought with them means we can see photographic evidence of the kind of things that were going on from the mid 1800's on.

I have recently been looking through books and archives of photographs and paintings in the Hocken Library. I have seen many old Dunedin and Northland images which fascinate me as I try to think about how it was. These are my homes 100's of years ago, and possibly my distant relatives trying to establish life in a new country.

I thought I would get copies of these paintings and photos and try to reproduce them in the present day to see what changes we see.

Here's the first attempt, not an amazing photo but still an interesting comparison. Drawing is by David Henderson, 1863.

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google maps view of same site

I am going to continue this study and have many other photos drawings and paintings to look at.

Through the Looking Glass.

Over the Easter Break alot of road-tripping went down. We explored alot of the South Island and I made sure the camera was always by my side.

In the Van heading to the west coast we found ourselves gazing out of the windows at the sublime New Zealand Landscape. The windows were acting like a 360 degree film which was constantly changing.

I took some photos of the gazing that waz going on and thought it would be interesting to work with a few of these.

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Above is the original image and below I have tweaked out the levels, causing the bright light coming through the windows and loss of detail in the faces. I have done some doodling in coloured pencils suggesting something happening outside the vessle that we can not decipher. Be it the stresses of everyday life or some fictional event going on it does not matter, we are merely watching through a screen, like we are at the Cinema.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 New Zealand License.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 New Zealand License.

'The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.' Brooks Anderson.

This quote holds much relevance to me and my current art work in the field of photography and other mediums abroad. As a photographer you tend to observe certain things, sometimes more so than the average person would. In my final year at the Dunedin Art School I am beginning to see more and observe more of the happenings surrounding me in my life. 

Traveling to other countries and experiencing different cultures and observing different behaviors has opened my eyes and made me realize how big the World is. It has also made me see how unique our Country is and since being back home I have taken more of an interest in Cultural aspects and social happenings in our young, Bi-Cultural nation. 

There are various things that I have been looking at in my photography which range from National events like Waitangi Day celebrations to our landscape tourism industry and observations in and around Dunedin. World Navigation and Travel also interest me, from the past to the present, and how the world has become a much smaller place.

Sunset on The Navigator, Doubtful Sound. 2009

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There are also various other projects I will have running throughout the year, some concerning our photography history which dates back to the early 1800's, through to the present technological advances in the digital world. 

I' keep this blog up to date throughout the year and hopefully keep it relevant and interesting with research links and current works.

Flying Over Borneo, Monsoon Season. 2008

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