An Early Work

One benefit of my work showing up in auctions

as it often does is that I sometimes see images that

are quite rare, and not often seen.

In the latest Webbs catalogue I

have seven prints for sale.

I have no idea where they

have been all these years.

Amongst the seven there is this portrait

which is one of my favourites out of all the

photographs that I have ever taken.

I don't know how many prints of this

image are in existence but it is probably

only 3 or 4.

I'm not sure of the exact date that I took

this photo but it was probably about

1980.

In 1981 Sheridan Keith wrote an essay on my work, entitled Frontierland,

which was published in London Magazine,

illustrated below. It is a powerful piece of writing.

Erika Parkinson, to whom I was married at the time,

said to me one day that she had met a woman with

a very interesting face and perhaps

she would be a good subject for a portrait.

Upon meeting her I agreed, and Donna Yuzwalk very kindly

volunteered to sit for me, although sit seems a

rather strange word to use in this case.

So here Donna is, standing in front of a river

in Kaukapakapa. Why a river? Well, for some

reason I was going through a phase where

I was hoping to take photos to illustrate

some of the poems that I had learnt by

heart as a schoolboy. In this case you are

looking at The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson.