By popular demand, and apparently a little late, except also early... whatever, our annual spring thread is here!
I've had a funny old winter, and for the most part will be glad to see the back of it. We might even toast its end in the comfort of our garden city over the weekend.
We look forward to you all filling your boots with photos of springy things, and on a typical spring day in Auckland, I suggest you don't leave them out in the rain.
Capture away.
The thoughtful and softly spoken Anthony Powell has spent a large part of his working life in Antarctica, both as a telecommunications engineer and more recently as a film-maker. His feature length documentary ‘Antarctica – A Year On Ice’ is about to make its debut at the New Zealand International Film Festival. Powell is one of those admirable low-key New Zealanders who can turn their hand to practical solutions when presented with a challenge. Captivated by the idea of photographing with time-lapse to catch the shifting moods of Antarctica, Powell built his own camera controlling equipment in the best traditions of no. 8 wire ingenuity. The results on screen, of time condensed from days into seconds, accompanied by subtle movement, are breathtakingly beautiful.
I asked Anthony if he was a photographer before he first went to Antarctica in the late 1998. “No. I’d always been interested in cameras and photography but I didn’t buy my first SLR camera until about two years before I went to the ice. The first two years (in Antarctica) I was shooting slide film, and there’s nowhere to develop the film, so you spend the whole year shooting stuff, with no idea if you’re doing it right or not. You have all the films developed when you get off the ice, discover all the mistakes you make, and go back and do it again. But by the third time I went, the digital technology had reached a point where a digital still photo would hold up on a movie screen, so at that point the learning stage accelerated rapidly.”
I remarked to Anthony that this was not a movie that could have been shot on film, unless it was made by someone with a Hollywood budget. “Oh yes, it would be ridiculously expensive for anyone to do it on film. Plus there are technical limitations with film down there. In the summertime you can get away with it but in winter, in the more extreme cold, I was running into problems. The film would freeze in the camera, become brittle, and snap. And as you wind the film in the zero humidity you get electrical discharges in the camera, that appear like lightning bolts in the image.”
Did your earlier digital images match up with the later images, when the evolution of camera technology has been so rapid? “Yes, the earliest time lapse in the movie is from 2004 and you really can’t tell the difference. But the biggest technological improvement in the last few years has been in the night shots. With earlier cameras the noise level at night was pretty horrible but after 2005 the DSLRs started to get better than film for the night shots.”
The night shots are one highpoint of the movie, especially the myriad of constellations wheeling above the satellite domes of the telecommunications base on Black Island. It seems there was no enhancement of these shots, or of the luminosity of the Aurora Australis. "No, when we worked on the colour grading (film post-production) at Park Rd, I tried to get it as close in the film to what I was seeing with the naked eye at the time."
You built your own equipment to carry out this project. Was that a matter of necessity or budget? “It was out of necessity. When I first started shooting the time lapse there was no commercially available camera controller at all. I created the parts out of spare electronics myself to control the camera shutter, built up a few little circuits. When it came to motion control, when I started to get more practiced at what I was doing, the cheapest unit was up around $10000. But those are useless in the winter down there, because anything with a rubber drive, the rubber goes solid, or snaps. I resort to the simplest technology possible – directly driven wheels, a pulley, or a string around a pulley to pull the camera along. Basically, the simplest works best."
"In that environment, the main thing is to have a good reliable power supply - a lot of batteries stop working once you get down to about 40 below but lead acid batteries are pretty reliable down to minus 60 or 70 as long as they don't crack open from the cold. You get down to about minus 20 and you can hear the camera shutter start to strain a little bit, but you can still get way with a photo every few seconds right down to minus 40”
How long was a typical time lapse shot? “It varies. Shots with people or equipment don’t run much longer than twenty minutes, but there’s others over twenty four hours as the sun goes around. The longest is the pressure ridges in the ice in front of Scott Base, which is only nine seconds in the film but it took five months to film."
Apart from the technical wizardry that has brought such images to the screen, the other aspect of the movie that impresses is the portrayal of the people who live and work at the United States facility McMurdo station, and the New Zealanders over the hill at Scott Base. At McMurdo we hear from people with ordinary jobs such as Dave the fireman, Genevieve the fire crew dispatcher, and Christine the financial controller (who is now married to Anthony). The crew who winter over are particularly reflective on how the months of isolation and total darkness affect them, while joking about any signs of 'T3 syndrome' such as mood changes and forgetfulness.
I asked whether there was any psychological screening of the people who winter over at the bases. "Not so much at Scott Base, but it's covered in the job interview. For McMurdo, you have to sit down with the shrink, and the 'psych eval' sheet, and they work out if you're going to fit in or not. There have been troubles with people in the past. They look out for that as much as possible."
I was impressed to see that all the waste from McMurdo is packed up and shipped out at the end of the summer. Is it environmentally pristine down there? "Yes, and it wasn't always that way. In the 1950s and 60s they used to dump the waste in the sea, and have big bonfires and burn the trash. These days, the degree of protection is very high - when you're out in the field you have to use a pee bottle for example."
The end of winter on the ice is signalled by the arrival of a fresh crew of new (and tanned) faces. The crew who have wintered over get their first taste of fresh fruit in months, and there is some discussion of what they will all seek out when they arrive back in Christchurch. There is a longing for smells and tastes - the smell of soil, of flowers, the taste of avocadoes and blue cheese. I asked Anthony what he missed most and looked for on his return. "I don't miss much - fresh fruit and veges, the ability to sleep in and not worry about anything. I miss my family and friends. But as Andrew says, (Andrew is the comms technician at Scott Base, and one of the people interviewed in the film) 'I will have a decent sleep for a few days.' When you're at Scott Base it's a little bit like being the engineer on a ship. You're constantly aware and attuned to the building, and the things going on. If you hear a slight change in the pitch of the generators, you might think 'uh-oh' ... you're never quite one hundred percent relaxed."
Further screenings take place as the Festival makes it's way around New Zealand between July and November. See the NZIFF website for details.
Anthony Powell's websites, with many images, films and background stories, can be found at antarcticimages.com and frozensouth.com
Remember this?
A very warm March for New Zealand; widespread dryness for North Island and parts of South Island
No, me neither. Winter is upon us, and the world is puddle wonderful.
Inspired by this Jos character, who as it happens has been inspiring me for around 35 years now, I went in hunt of some wintery reflections.
Rumour has it there has been some winter happening around the country too, so if you get the chance to capture your own upside down world, throw them in the comments. Or just standard right side up will of course suffice.
It's also the Winter Solstice, so now we can begin the slow ascent to spring. Although don't tell our jonquils, cause they think it's here already.
Big thanks to Capture regular Nora Leggs for her contributions too.
Capture away.
ETA: I'm not actually living in a cave, and do realise there are people displaced by flooding (including one of our PAS whānau - wishing you and your family well Isabel), and houses with roofs blown off, not to mention a drunk ferry blowing around the Cook Strait.
Our thoughts are with everyone suffering from the weather conditions today, and hope things improve for you all soon.
Published by Suite Publishing
Available through their website; www.suite.co.nz
A new book of photographs by Ans Westra is due for release at the end of this month, with 137 photos, accompanied by poems and words from Hone Tuwhare, David Lange, David Eggleton, Brian Turner and Russel Norman, co-leader of the Green Party.
The book starts with three photos; a farm gate with 'for sale' on it; a beach scene at sunset with the lights of a distant ship; and a dead penguin lying on the sand. These are followed by the poem Papa-tu-a-nuku by Hone Tuwhare.
Papa-tu-a-nuku
(Earth Mother)
We are stroking, caressing the spine
of the land.
We are massaging the ricked
back of the land
With our sore but ever-loving feet.
Hell, she loves it!
Squirming, the land wriggles
in delight.
We love her.
The opening poem gives the impression this is a book about our love for the land, but in reality it is the opposite. The photos taken in isolation show a New Zealand we all see as we drive through the countryside, or in our evening suburban crawl.
But this is not photography as the casual, sympathetic observer, which we could be forgiven for expecting from Ans Westra. This is consciously political.
We are not stroking, caressing the spine of the land, we are breaking its back, cultivating it, slashing and burning, or as Russell Norman writes in his contribution to the book;
Some people carpet their lounge rooms, some people carpet the bedrooms, but we carpeted the whole country. We did it in the name of progress and growth, we did it to make a living in our new world, we did it to feed our kith and kin; but we did do it.
I struggled with this book as a photographic collection at first, as it wasn't at all what I expected. Having recently got a copy of the re-issued Washday at the Pa, my experience with Ans Westra, and passion for her work, relates to her ability to capture in an unaffected and unadulterated form, the cultural and physical environment she encounters.
In Our Future the plates are predominantly landscapes, taken as usual with her medium format Rolleiflex camera, with rolling hills, broken tree trunks, scarred hillsides with sunken crevices and roading cutaways. We have made our mark on the land, and as much as we might advertise otherwise to the world, it isn't all that pretty. Along with these are dead animals, either in fenced paddocks or hung on fences, and in the last section, house for sale signs and building sites on the edge or our cities, in a timely depiction of what we can expect from our urban sprawl.
Overall this book issues a challenge. In her own foreword Westra writes;
What gives us the right to alter the landscape, cut down our hills and exploit our waterways? Do we not realise that the changes we make are not always improvements, and that what we use cannot rapidly be replaced? Our children and our country deserve better. Instead of becoming like the rest of the world, this beautiful place should become a shining example of hope for survival in a newly balanced environment.
Noble and worthy words, that are well supported by the photographs in this book, in the sense that they starkly show the scars we have left on the land. I'm left wondering if we're up to it. Certainly we'd need to change direction pretty dramatically, and soon.
Ans Westra, in her interview with Chris Laidlaw on Radio NZ, says;
We're galloping ahead, selling ourselves off, and I think we need to stop and think ... what kind of plans do we have for the future. We don't seem to have very many.
I'm very happy to have this book in my collection now, and would recommend it to others. It is a statement, but one that I wish more people would make.
Go plant a tree.
Capture away.
The Auckland Festival of Photography kicks off on May 30 and runs until June 21. With three weeks of events and exhibitions across more than 75 venues, there is no way we can touch on everything that is happening - but below are some brief details of some of the exhibitions, images and events that have caught our attention. For more details about what's on and where, go to the Auckland Festival of Photography website.
On Saturday 8 June participants are invited to capture and submit images that reflect their Auckland. Nikon are offering three very fine cameras as first, second and third prizes so it's well worth having a go. The prizes can be seen here and all the fine print is here.
Talking Culture: Portfolio reviews
We like the sound of this. Have your photographic portfolio appraised by four leading experts in their field. On June 8 one-on-one sessions are available to discuss your photography with Dieneke Jansen (photographer & senior lecturer at AUT) Harvey Benge (curator, writer and photographer) Marie Shannon (photographer) and Ron Brownson (senior curator of NZ & Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery). Bookings essential. More details here.
A two day symposium at Auckland Art Gallery on June 1 & 2, billed as a response to the Christchurch earthquakes. A group of local and international photographers and artists will discuss how they respond personally, artistically and photographically to natural disasters. The participants are Kit Wise, Fofoga Setoga Tuala, Michel Varisco, Andrew Quilty, Allan McDonald, Richard Mahoney and Giles Crook.
Above: two images in the aftermath of the Samoan tsunami by Fofoga Setoga Tuala.
Above: Cyclone Yasi. Image by Andrew Quilty.
Above: the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Image by Michel Varisco.
Historic and contemporary photographic portraits of well-known and emerging New Zealand artists, taken mostly in their studios. There is moody black and white (Colin McCahon, Milan Mrkusich and Pat Hanly from the 1960s), action sequences of works in progress (Max Gimblett), and some vibrant colour (Jenny Doleziel and Sara Hughes). From June 4 until July 28, at the The Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre.
Above: Ralph Hotere. Image by Gil Hanly.
An exhibition featuring photographs from twelve artists with connections to the Auckland region: Mark Adams, Edith Amituanai, Fiona Amundsen, Harvey Benge, Bruce Connew, Chris Corson-Scott, Ngahuia Harrison, Derek Henderson, Ian Macdonald, Haruhiko Sameshima Geoffrey H. Short and Talia Smith. From 20 May until 12 June, at the NorthArt Gallery, Norman King Square (Opposite the Northcote library) Ernie Mays Street, Northcote Shopping Centre.
Above: Cook Strait. Image by Haruhiko Sameshima.
Nga Puna Waihanga: John Miller and Gil Hanly
A retrospective photographic look back at Nga Puna Waihanga, the organisation for Maori writers and artists, marking forty years since the first hui in 1973. John Miller and Gil Hanly present fifty images documenting some of the Nga Puna Waihanga story. From May 17 until June 16, at the Nathan Homestead Gallery, on the first floor of the Nathan Homestead, 70 Hill Rd, Manurewa.
Above: Tukaki wharenui, Te Kaha-nui-a-tiki marae. Te Kaha. June 1973
Local kuia Kiritahanga Poihipi and Hone Tuwhare outside the Tukaki wharenui. Image by John Miller.
Two contemporary photographers, Paul Batt from Australia and Fernando Montiel Klint from Mexico, present an exhibition documenting contemporary China at a point of upheaval. From June 5 until June 21 at the Hum Salon, 123 Grafton Road, Grafton.
Above: China image by Paul Batt.
Walking in the City: Allan McDonald
Allan McDonald is concerned for our architectural heritage and the future of our Victorian and Edwardian buildings. Walking in the City continues his photographic exploration of New Zealand urban areas, and documents some of the interesting signs of life that are found on the margins of our towns and cities. From 23 May until 15 June, at the Anna Miles Gallery, 47 High St (Suite 4J - take the passage alongside Tatty's to the lift and lift to 4th Floor).
Above: Willis Street, Wellington 2012. Image by Allan McDonald.
Untouched as Unknown: Jae Hoon Lee
Seamless photographic landscapes built up from individual images, taken in Antarctica and Nepal. From 17 May to 16 June, at the Corban Estate Arts Centre, 2 Mt Lebanon Lane, Henderson.
Above: Image by Jae Hoon Lee, 2012. Courtesy of Starkwhite Gallery.
