Underwater

Underwater

Tomorrow I go to Fiji. It's not really a holiday,

I'm not sure if I take holidays. It's primarily

a trip to see what new photos I can find,

I would be happy with just one, it's always like 

that for me.

What makes this trip different is that I am

taking an underwater camera and it will 

give me the chance to explore a whole new world.

I've never used one before.

Not that I should be too fixated on going underwater,

it is important to focus softly so to speak, there may 

be a new photo on dry land, staring me in the face

but unrecognised because I am so determined to head

for the beach.

In my planning I'm being careful.

I've booked accomodation for just the first two nights

 so that I can freely follow up any leads that might

come my way. I caught myself out a couple of days 

ago. I was telling a Fijian born Indian,

here in New Plymouth, that I wanted to circumnavigate

Viti Levu the main island while I was there. He looked at

me a little quizically and asked how long was I staying.

'A week' I answered.  He looked sceptical. 

Still I love my new underwater camera, not that apart

from testing it out in a rock pool nearby

when I had to summon up all my courage

in order to plunge it below the surface, I have not

used it since, apart from photographing some clocks in Whangarei. 

I want to make the best possible use of it

as a tool for helping me to find a new image,

one precious to me.

I've been studying the history of 

this genre and was recently introduced 

the work of Jean Painlevé 1902-1989, that's him

in the photo above.

The son of a mathematician and a politician,

whose mother died as a result of giving birth

to him, he became an important maker of 

science films, more than 200.

One, 14 minutes long, is called Les Amours de la Pieuvre

(The Love Life of the Octopus) I recommend it.

He knew many artists living in Paris at the time,  Man Ray, Andre Breton, 

and Alexander Calder for example.  In the 50's he filmed Calder 

performing his Circus.

Wish me luck.

Matisse Polynesia 1946

Matisse, Polynesia 1946

On Sunday I am going to Fiji for 

a week, I urgently need to refresh my energy.

Apart from circumnavigating Viti Levu,

the main island, I have no plans other than

taking up my new underwater camera

and swimming around in shallowish water.

I don't want to go outside the reefs

where the water is deep and dark.

The blackness below scares me. 

In 1930 Matisse spent time in Tahiti, 

he spent time underwater as well.

Seaweed became one of his motifs.

I don't know whether to call this influence or not

but I have taken photographs that remind me of 

his work.

Here is a link to a six minute 

film about Matisse and his final work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APaXLXAVkmQ

Three Lions

In my photographic career I have

made 3 Lion photographs.

One quality they 

have in common is that none of the Lions

are real, that's not deliberate on my part

I promise. 

The top Lion is a new arrival

 in New Plymouth, up

against a mural and outside a 

hotel that opened 2 weeks

ago, a hotel called King & Queen, 

The middle Lion is glass

and living on a window ledge,

it's back facing west towards

the sunset, probably ten

years ago.

The earliest of these photos, the bottom one,

 is the Lion head against a brick wall. 

I had gone for a walk from my 

Copenhagen hotel 15 years ago

and come across some land with

a storage collection of statues like this.

Kai Iwi Lakes

I've just returned from a photographic expedition to Northland.

As usual, no matter where I went I was always

looking for a new photo.

Actually, I'm like that even when I'm at home,
it doesn't seem to make any difference where I am.
I could be in the kitchen or even the bathroom.

The branchy photo above was taken at Kai Iwi Lakes, 
about 40 minutes north of Dargaville. The shrubs, probably
manuka, have been drowned by rising fresh water. 
Lakes are being formed by advancing sand hills, very like Bethels.

The Virginia Creeper below is from a wall in 
Clyde, Central Otago, about 4 years ago.
I've included it in this post because it
immediately reminded of the swamp
photo and I enjoy comparing.

White Swan

About three months ago

I bought this object in Eltham,

South Taranaki. 

I was immediately intrigued
by it.

After a couple of months, 
I turned it
around, suddenly realising
that the reverse side was 
just as interesting.

A little while later 

I also realised that its

shape reminded me of

another photo, one that

I had posted on my last post

way back on February 21st.

Revisiting

The photo above I took last year, 

called Budda's Hand, one of the names

for this extraordinary citrus.

However, earlier this week, a visitor

remarked upon how reminiscent 

it was of Thea's Hand, a photo 

from 1997.

Thea's Hand was taken in Christchurch. Thea's

parent asked if I could take a photo of her

hands.  I agreed, finally deciding to use this 

marble background with her hand above

mine.

Surprisingly, I hadn't noticed this similarity,

or even thought about it.

Sabre & Socks

The lower photo I took today. I'm sorting

my socks, trying to match them up,

and make pairs.

The upper photo I took of a Napier Sabre

engine, 2000 horse power plus. This is

in a museum in Christchurch.

Slaughter 1981

I am involved in a major project where I am 

going through all of my old negatives

to see if I have missed any images

that could be printed up, or, in some

cases to find negatives that

I knew, or rather hoped were

there, but have been lost for years.

I was very glad to come across the negative of Slaughter 1981,

taken at a time when I was in my early

days as a photographer. I think that I made,

one, maybe two prints mainly for my 

personal enjoyment. I don't know where

the prints are now.

It was taken on the same occasion

 that I took Farm Study. In fact

all of the sheep in Farm Study were

on their way to be killed.

The top photo shows one of them.

However, it would be remiss of me 

not to include another photo in this post, the colour one

below and called Carcass, taken a couple 

of years ago.

Needless to say this image has not

been one of my big sellers.

By the way, this sheep in not real.