Photographs in progress today

Contact

I'm going through my history and as a result came across this contact sheet.
I remember this occasion, I was at St.Aubyn's Street, Devonport Auckland.

The image that I chose 22 years ago was the top right hand one.

Now, I think I would have chosen the frame from the bottom left corner.
The more open one as below.

I'm interested to see this work below by Georgia O'Keeffe.
Drawing IX, 1958

Buick Dynaflow.

A friend, Mark Bellringer, came to visit on Sunday. Of all the American cars we had here
in New Plymouth over the last few days he said that the Buick Dynaflow was his favourite. As it happened, of all the cars that I looked at, it was my favourite too. I even had a photo in my camphone to prove it. Mark saw it with its hood down.

Stieglitz Clouds 1926

After writing the posting below, about clouds, I was reminded of

Alfred Stieglitz 1864-1946
I began photographing in my early 30's, for some reason or other not being the least bit interested in the camera until then. I was fortunate to have studied for a B.A in English from Auckland University at a time when Tim Shadbolt was making speeches in the university quad, promoting books such as Bullshit and Jellybeans. Students in Paris were rioting, Vietnam war sinking deeper into the quagmire. The English department was a crown jewel in the university.

These were times when Marxist interpretations about art were popular. I have respect for these and am glad that I caught this philosphy when it was in its heyday. There are still Marxist interpreters around and I'm glad about this too because one of the basic maxims of Marxism is that the bourgeousie will overwhelm the proletariat ie the managerial class will always tend to exploit the workers, and I think that it is important for me to remember this. In my career in the arts I deal with 'managers' most days.

From Auckland University, I have an MA in Education. I was interested especially in how to design and evaluate a curriculum. How do you teach someone how to be a poet, for example?
Not going to art school I had to design my own programme for learning about photography and it was natural for me to follow the example that I had experienced when studying English. I studied great works, the lives and context of those who made them. Read a little bit of comment from time to time, but not a great deal. There didn't seem to be as much 'theory around then. My guess is that in schools, theory has well and truly supplanted history.

I still read biographies of artists. It helps me to keep my courage up.

Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz were two that I was interested in and read a lot about. Georgia O'Keeffe was one of the first American artists to forsake Paris and head for the American hinterland, in this case the desert of New Mexico, and I think that this appealed to me.

Not just their work inspired me, but their commitment to their work.

The relationship between Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe is a great love story.

Georgia O'Keeffe- Shell and Shingle 1926
(this is the actual colour. click on any image in my site to see it on a larger scale.)

Three Crosses

These Russian Yak sports planes were flying over my home on Sunday afternoon. Luckily for me three of these planes are based in New Plymouth.

Russian Submarine

When in the 90's, latter part, I was visiting Sydney from New Zealand, on a regular basis, I took this photo.

On one of my trips, I went to a maritime museum in Sydney Harbour. On view was a Russian submarine that had been bought by someone with good taste after the collapse of Communism, although I don't know who. I could be wildly wrong here but I think that they were for sale for $US250,000. My understanding was that it was one of fleet kept in Vladivostok, and used to patrol the Pacific. I went on a detailed tour of the Sydney one and I recommend it to anyone.

Again Im relying on my memory here, but my current understanding is that there were 17 of these submarines based there, and that were used to patrol the Pacific. There were rumours that they went through Cook Strait, although I know no facts.

Napier Sabre

About 10 years ago I photographed this 24 cylinder engine in the N.Z.Air Force museum at Wigram. Wigram is on the outskirts of Christchurch. I like this engine and I like this photograph but I made only one or two prints. Some day I might print up an edition.

Cloud Appreciation Society
Steve Braunius, my favourite New Zealand columnist, has in his column, Sunday Service, in today's Sunday Star Times, written about, among other things, a Cloud Appreciation Society. On their website they have posted innumerable clouds in many different categories. It is possible to send in your own contributions too.

By entering New Zealand in the search window you will see some New Zealand clouds. On the home page there is information about the site including books and T-shirts!

Meanwhile, here are three of my cloud photos, taken from my balcony.

Americarna.

All week, here in New Plymouth, in perfect weather, there has been a gathering of around 250 American cars
and motorbikes under the banner of Americarna. Enthusiasts from all over the country have assembled and I've had several opportunities to have a close look at much of the machinery, and their doting owners. The city has embraced them, their presence has added texture to life here to this small town of 50,000 people, and of course the economic spin-off for local business has been healthy.
Generally speaking, and with notable exceptions such as the Studebaker, defunct since 1966, American car design such as Muscle Cars, and Hot Rods does not attract me too much, but all the same there were some extraordinary vehicles, for example, an immaculate, colossal, black hearse with the number plate DEAD, and a coffin in the back. Another favourite is a perfectly restored 1936 Chevrolet tow-truck. There was something extremely cute about it, and as it resides in New Plymouth I hope to see it again. There were so many admirers around it that I was not able to get a photo.

It has been an opportunity to have a close look at about 50 Harley-Davidsons and their owners, many of whom looked wonderfully like Willie Nelson. I admire the Harley-Davidson design ethic, it has a presence, even if I don't like all the designs equally. Above however, is a snap of the bike that I liked the most. It's from the V-Rod series. I don't know what a new one in New Zealand would cost but here is a 2003 model for sale on Trade-me for $NZ23,000. Do click on the small photo to see just what an impressive machine this is, in appearance at least.

Here, to finish this posting is a photograph of my father on his Harley, with sidecar. I don't know exactly when this was but he was born in 1904 and I would guess this to be taken in the 30's. He died at the age of 91 and until the end of his life he carried gravel in his elbows and knees, as a result of coming off this bike on gravel roads, once as a result of on a dark night night, hitting a cow. (Again, as with any photo on this site, by clicking on the image, it can be enlarged.)

Hercules

It's a lot of fun when friends send me their photos
because the images remind them of my style. It's like a conversation.

Here is a photo taken by Tomislav Krpan,
a friend of mine from Auckland. Tomislav knows
that not only is the composition similar to what I use, but the subject matter is one that I am
interested in. I have even made a photo of a Hercules. The Hercules, or Lockheed C-130 to give them their full name, operate out of Whenuapai, where the RNZAF has 5.

When I lived at Herald Island, which is right off the end of the runway at Whenuapai, these planes were a constant source of pleasure for me.

Antony Rhodes, on his blog onemomentcaller, has posted his response to the news of the danger that the Regent Building is in. (See my posts below)

Artlife.

In the sidebar to the right, I have posted a link to Artlife, an Australian site, which although at times quite wordy, has excellent material on it. An example is this short film below made by Man Ray, in 1923, although the music has been added later.

The speckles in the first few frames are salt and pepper. One of the shapes that appears is an egg crate. The model is the famous Kiki de Montparnasse, muse to many.

Man Ray (Man is short for Emmanuel) was an artist who was an important part of my photographic education.

Len Lye Again.

Firstly I want to thank those kind people who have sent me messages of support for my campaign to save one of New Plymouth's historic buildings from demolition. See my posting below, Monday 19th Feb.

I never met Len Lye but did wonder what his attitude towards the destruction of the Regent building would be, especially as the site is to be cleared in order to construct 'A World Centre for Len Lye'.

Last night I consulted the Roger Horrocks biography of him and there on page 283 I think I found the answer. In 1960, Len and his wife, Ann, were active in a campaign against New York City's plan to 'redevelop' the area by demolishing old houses, houses in which many artists had their studios. His wind wands were used in protest, and the Village Voice described the event under the headline, 'Swaying Mobile Is Art's Ode to West Village Battle'.

The Crematorium

Recently the local crematorium had an open day, or to be more exact, an open evening.
Visitors such as myself, who had to register beforehand, were taken on a tour of the facilities, and given information on legal issues, procedures, options, etc.

Of course there were no funerals or cremations under way, and I didn't take any photos, not just because I didn't see anything that I wanted to photograph, but because it wouldn't have seemed very cool to pull out a camera!

I learnt a lot. What surprised me, for example, was that when the burning is completed, usually depending on the size of the body, after about one and a half hours, some of the large bones such as the femur are still intact. Usually they are put into a grinding machine (I saw theirs) and the resulting ashes all put into a container.

However, it is permissable for the family to request that some of these large bones be kept intact and handed back along with the ash. I suppose that the large bones are not in great shape but it did seem an interesting option, one which apparently some people have chosen. It has a certain appeal for me. I think that I would quite like the bones of some of my ancestors. It certainly seems like an option that I would consider, not that I am taking orders for any of my bones just yet, unless perhaps Te Papa made me good offer, money in advance.

I was also interested in what happens to metal that might be in the body. Mercury and gold vapourises and goes up the chimney, but titanium, such as I have in my skull, does not. It too can be requested by the family, so if you want your aunty's artificial hip on your mantelpiece, that is an option. Usual practice though is that the crematorium disposes of the titanium left behind in the ovens.

Roughly 80% of New Zealanders are now cremated, although the rate is slightly lower in Taranaki, apparently attributable to the high number of Catholics in this province. Although Catholics are now permitted by their church to be cremated there is still a slight preference for burial. (Although I am an atheist, on my mother's side I am Catholic Taranaki, and I enjoy going to cemeteries here and looking at the names of relations, going back many generations.)

Overall it was a worthwhile experience though a sobering one to be looking into the two ovens that they have here, and thinking that if I am to die while living in New Plymouth, they are the very ovens that my body will be slid into for destruction.

Hamish McKay.
Last night, Hamish, who is one on New Zealand's most successful art dealers, was staying with me, here, in New Plymouth. This is a self portrait taken in Venice.

Kereru 2006

140x 186 mm
silver gelatin print
$900 incl gst.
edition of 15

Of this edition there are two left for sale. Anyone interested in a possible purchase of one of these, or any other photos, either contact me directly, or please ring Hamish McKay on 0274 368368, or Paul McNamara on 027 2498059. Or if you prefer, use a dealer or agent of your choice.

Update: 8.35 am Tuesday 20th Feb.
One Kereru sold.
One now left.

'A World Centre For Len Lye.'

Here in New Plymouth we have fervent group of people pushing to raise $10M to build a
centre to house and promote the collection of Len Lye material that has been gifted to this city.

In the last week they have been particularly active, although personally I'm not entirely convinced by their thinking. However, apart from not attending their rallies, I've been very silent because, surprisingly enough, I like to lead the quiet life, and just get on with my work.

But one thing I no longer want to be silent about is that they are intending to smash down the Regent building. It is one of the most special heritage buildings in this city and understandably
they have not publicised their intentions. Even though many New Plymouth residents are opposed to the Len Lye Foundations activities they don't yet realise that this building is in grave danger. Most think that the Foundation is going to be established inside the the Regent. There has been nothing in the local press about the building's demolition and I'll predict that when the news does break there will be strong opposition.

The large photos in the window are mine. It was a drive-by show that I had a couple of years ago.

Conus Litteratus

I have been thinking about this photo for a few months, and have now decided that I am going to print up an edition. I am fond of this entire Conus genus, or is it family, of shells, found in various forms all over the Indo-Pacific region.

This is a Conus marmoreus that I photographed about 10 years ago. It became one of the most popular photos that I ever made. The idea for it came from a 1650 Rembrandt etching that I saw in Germany. I bought the shell in Germany as well. An interesting point about the Rembrandt etching is that the shell is in reverse, the opening of the shell always goes the other way. He must have etched it the correct way around, and then in the etching process it became reversed.

In 2001, as I collected more of these shells,
I made a new version, this one with two shells.

In turn, this reminded me of a still life that I made in 1982.
I still have the waste paper basket.

Music
Recently, on my 65th birthday, I decided that it was time for me to begin learning the piano. Living on my own and quite a distance from my nearest neighbours is a big help.
It means that I can practise pretty much whenever I want, and while I may be lacking in skill I make up for in motivation.

A bonus for me is that I have quite a lot of written music in the house. I find it an inspiration just to look at it even if I am years away from being able to play much of it.

I love the look of music and above have posted one of my favourites. It is some Bach. There is something about the arrangement of notes that thrills me. What it sounds like I don't know, unless I resort to a CD. (click on the image to make it bigger.)

The second photo is one I made perhaps 20 years ago. I even called it Zoo Music.

At the same time as Zoo Music, I was obsessed with the idea of photographing mathematical calculations in particular those of Albert Einstein who died in 1955. In a biography I saw some of the pages that contained his last calculations. They looked so interesting, purely from a visual point of view, even though I am reasonable at maths I couldn't follow them in the least. The papers were, I think, in an archive at Princeton Unversity, and I remember at the time being keen to go to Princeton to make a photo. Unfortunately it is a long way away and I didn't make it.

The closest that I got to Einstein was to visit Lawrence, Kansas, where until the late 90's his brain resided. It was then sent to Princeton.

Stick Insect.

About 20 years ago I took this photo of a stick insect. I sold the only print that I made to the Auckland Art Gallery and since then I have not been able to find the negative, thereby making it a very rare image. To my knowledge it has never been reproduced.

The Auckland Art Gallery is possibly unique among New Zealand public galleries in that it has its collection on-line. Here is a link to the opening page, although it does require you to click a box saying that you accept the conditions of browsing through it.

When I took this photo I was particularly interested in camouflage.

When in Wellington, I went to a very convivial post-opening party, at the Southern Cross Hotel.
I noticed these candles sitting on a shelf over a big fireplace. I left the party, walked back to my accomodation, picked up my camphone which foolishly I hadn't taken with me in the first place, walked back to the bar, and took this little picture. (incidentally, click on image above and it will come up bigger).

Meanwhile, it got me thinking about the similarities between this candle photo and one that I took of an et al sculpture, shown here at the Govett-Brewster, in New Plymouth, a couple of years ago.

I can see how there are certain visual similarities between the two subjects. I must have been photographing the et al, primarily because of the shapes within it.

Weta 1999
330 x 500 mm
silver gelatin print.

In daylight hours cave weta like to roost in caves or at least in dark overhanging places such as under a rock. They are very quiet, in fact they have no ears and make no sound. There are 60 species of cave weta in New Zealand. They can jump 2 metres.

These cave weta are in the Waitakeres, in West Auckland and are sitting on concrete.

Weta

On returning home I was welcomed by this weta clinging to my backdoor. For overseas
visitors to my site, these are native cricket-like insects that have, in the absence of land mammals here in New Zealand, taken over the ecological niche usually occupied by rats & mice. Flightless, they prefer to forage at night.

This weta is welcome, because its presence is a sign to me that the biodiversity of this 1/4 acre is improving.

Neil Dawson's Ferns 1998

In Civic Square, outside the Wellington City Gallery. I was there along with
several hundred others over the weekend because Telecom Prospect 2007, opened on Saturday evening. Of the 43 artists in the show (not me) 35 were in attendance.

Here is the City Gallery itself. Originally it was a library. The library
is now in the blue building on the left.

I will write something about the Prospect exhibition. I'm thinking about what I want to say, and how I'm going to say it.

Sandpit Scene
2007

This is the sandpit in Ponsonby cafe. Once again I recognise this photo. I have taken many versions of it in the past couple of years, although I don't think that I have released any of them. There seems to be something about randomness that attracts me. I'll keep working with these images until either I get over it, or I start publishing them in ways other than on this site.

After morning coffee with a client, I taxi to Auckland airport and then fly to Wellington. My first stop there will be with Paul Craig a framer, to see about having some of my photos framed. After that I go to a city hotel, and over the next couple of days, until I fly back to New Plymouth on Sunday, catch up with a few friends, and have a general relax I hope.

One thing that I want to do is to go to Te Papa, to see a show that includes, I believe, three of my photos. I say believe, because in line with normal practice of public galleries in this country, they don't automatically inform artists when their work is included in exhibitions. This is a show of 300 works from their collection that took them 14 months to put together.

Shop Window

in High St, Auckland today. The ease of my camphone is enabling me to

takes snaps of anything that might catch my eye, in a very unobtrusive way too. There is considerable freedom there.

I recognise this photo as a template that I frequently return to.

Japanese Politics

In the posting below, done last night, I mentioned that here in Auckland I am enjoying watching NHK, a Japanese television channel, similar to the BBC in quality.

There are elections coming up in Japan, and this screen has something to do with those.

I can't read what this says, my Japanese daughter-in-law kindly translated it for me.

I have photographed it just because I like the shapes, colours, the overall effect of it. Probably it would not be possible to fully explain why I am attracted arrangements of shapes like this.

I did appreciate more fully, when Michiko was translating, however, that she was using the pictorial nature of this script to give her clues to the meaning. And I also appreciated how they must find reading English difficult, it having no picture clues at all in the words. Reading this script must require two different parts of the brain. They are not trying to crack the meaning of the word just by sounding it out alone as we do.

Incidentally, there are about 40,000 of these kanji.

And I should add that the little bit of simpler writing in the lower middle of the picture is katakana, which are the shapes Japanese use to write English words. Derived from kanji they are though, largely phonetic.

Japanese Weather today.

The apartment in which I'm staying in Auckland has a 42 inch plasma television set. One station the television receives is NHK, a Japanese no-ads broadcast.

Watching Japanese television here in Ponsonby is an intriguing experience even though I don't understand a word of what is being said. I could watch it for hours.

I particularly like the weather maps, and here is a snap of one. It's slightly soft partly because the image on the screen was not particularly sharp.

Must get back to TV now.

Just How Good Are New Zealand Curators?

From this afternoon I am in Auckland and Wellington on business and may not be able to do any blogging until I return on Sunday afternoon. It depends upon time and access to a suitable computer, however I will do my best.

On Saturday evening I will be going to the opening of Telecom Prospect 2007 at the City Gallery in Wellington.

Curated by Heather Galbraith, this show is described in their publicity as being 'an explosion of new art by New Zealander artists....drawing on the most vital and curious work made by New Zealand artists over the last three years.'

I'm sceptical of this claim because I've seen the list of artists in this show and find the work of some of those included to be conservative, and far from vital.

In recent years, not only has the number of curators in this country risen exponentially, but they have accrued considerable power over artists. A question I want to see asked is 'just how good are these curators?' Of course in a tiny country like this not many artists are going to ask this in public as it could have serious repercussions for their careers. But apart from artists, there doesn't seem to be any serious commentary questioning in even a mild way, the quality of curatorial connoisseurship.

In the case of Prospect, there is also a statement that has been issued summarising the curatorial basis for the selection, unfortunately written in the usual hifalutin language that streams out of art galleries, and has earned art writing here the title of 'the sick man of New Zealand literature.' Here is the statement. Take a deep breath:

The exhibition is structured around three intersecting thematic clusters which have been derived from observations of and queries about current trends and debates: contemporary abstraction; a reconfiguration of the everyday and augmented reality. A connective thread weaving through the exhibition is an interest in collabortive practices and experiential dynamics between art works and their audiences.

Waitangi.
May, 2005

Today is Waitangi Day, a national holiday in New Zealand, to celebrate the signing of
the Treaty of Waitangi, an agreement made between the British and the Maori.

This is a view that I took of the very place where, in 1840, the Treaty's first signatures were collected. Subsequently it was taken to other parts of New Zealand.

I was fortunate to have spent much of my early childhood in this area.

A commemorative set of stamps from my tiny stamp collection.