Capture by A photoblog

The Auckland Pride Parade took to Ponsonby Road today as part of the Auckland Pride Festival. While it differed in many ways from the Hero Parades I remember from 1992 and beyond, it was still a great day, and I, like many others, am hoping it becomes a regular fixture again on the Auckland calendar.

The moment of greatest significance for me was seeing Maryan Street walking with her placard. I found myself yelling out in support almost involuntarily. It reminded me that while we've come a long way, we still have further to go.

Feel free to share your photos, stories, or memories of previous pride parades.

Capture away.

First published in 1967 and now long out-of-print, Gary Baigent's The Unseen City is a unique photographic document of Auckland. It was the result of four years observing and photographing the city that Gary came to know after he graduated from Ilam School Of Fine Arts in 1962 and rode his 'worn out G3 Matchless' motorbike to Auckland, intending to train as a teacher. Describing his move north in a 1987 Metro article, [1] Gary wrote that when training college began to seem like a return to the petty discipline of his schooldays at Nelson College, he dropped out and picked up casual work on the wharves, or as a labourer, and concentrated on photography. For a young man born and raised in the back country betweeen Nelson and Marlborough, this new city seemed exotic and alive. Auckland was "... tropical with mosquitoes and the sound of shunted railway wagons clanging through the warm night air ..." [2]

The Metro article gives a fascinating glimpse of Auckland in the sixties, of the people, places and events that shaped the book, the process of getting the city book project underway and the backlash when it was finally published. There was criticism of Gary's technique, and of the heavily inked printed pages where subtlety and detail were lost. On the other hand, the book was celebrated as the complete opposite of the many 'beautiful New Zealand' photographic books that had been published up to that time.

"Well, I knew nothing then, self taught, and the mistakes are obvious ... but I can still see the enthusiasm, excitement and dedication in making the collection... so, it's okay, can't change it now anyway. Even though just following my nose, broke into new areas  which hadn't been
done, if at all, in this country before; night photography with fast film and lenses, hand held, no setups or tripod, for example - but it all looks pretty conventional now."

Gary Baigent still takes photographs, and many of them can be seen on his Facebook page. In recent years he has published a book entitled Light Brigade about his beloved light displacement and multihull yachts, and is currently collaborating on another in-depth book about the history of New Zealand yacht and powerboat design. He continues to enjoy sailing in Auckland, Northland and the Bay of Plenty.

The photographs in this post are reproduced with the permission of Gary Baigent, and the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.

Te Papa also hold twelve of Gary's photographs from this period, including 'Johnny Hermann's Smile', 'Party, Brighton Rd' and 'Milkbar, Grey's Avenue'. The Te Papa collection can all be viewed in high-resolution.

Copies of The Unseen City are available at many New Zealand libraries, and the book occasionally comes up for sale on TradeMe.

Introduction by Jonathan Ganley

I've been to all the Laneway Festivals in Auckland, since the first in Britomart in 2010. It's a great concept, and delivers a freshness and different vibe, in terms of music, patrons and overall atmosphere, than other music festivals I've been to. It's a festival for the here and now.

So by the time my crusty old sciatica back got the best of me at around 9.30, just as Tame Impala were about to take the stage, I had begun to feel a bit 'there and then'.

The Laneway organisers delivered on the promise of more shade, but there were still plenty of rosy red people in evidence, and queues, but not for the toilets or coupons this time. The Auckland Council ordered the organisers to close one of the bars at 8pm due to "concerns over intoxication levels."

Bailterspace were, as I'm sure was the case for many, the highlight for me, and Jonathan and I both got up the front to capture it.

And this guy I know also recorded Machine Song from the crowd. Awesome.

I wonder what next year will bring. Are we ready for a new venue? One thing is for sure, more ingenious hiding places for those contraband packets of nuts & raisins will need to be found ...

Capture away.

ETA: JP's full set on Flickr. Trialing embed function. Which apparently works. Yay! Click for slide show, and hit 'full screen'.

End of Days

Rumours of our demise were grossly exaggerated.  Unless...

This will be our last post for 2012, and unlike the world, we'd like to go out with a bang, not a whimper.  Yes, I just wrote that.  There's a bit to get through, so grab a coffee and pull up a chair.

Days On The Green

Last weekend several of us went to see The Church, Devo and Simple Minds at Villa Maria, in a busy weekend for the Day on the Green organisers, with Fly My Pretties, Black Seeds and the WIUO playing on the Sunday.  That's, as one was heard to say, a veritable 'Chardonnay Apocalypse'.  Although we preferred the Brut on the day.

The music was good, the venue and atmosphere of the occasion even better.  Everyone was there for a good time, and while the rate of consumption in the heat may have got the better of one or two people, it was a family friendly event, as you will see in the photos below.

Over the months of summer there are a number of outdoor concerts on offer, and it would be a great shame if you did't get along to at least one. 

My picks are;

The next 'A Day On The Green' with Elvis Costello and the Imposters.

Danielle let us know that Elvis has moved to the Civic.  Not so greeny, but now he might do his Spinning Songbook, which would be AWESEOME!

Laneway Festival at Silo Park and Wynyard Quarter.  (Actually, this is pretty much compulsory, IMhO.)

A bit later in summer, Tuborg Sounds at North Harbour Stadium (Black Seeds, Katchafire, Tiki Taane, Trinity Roots, etc.)

Something for everyone.

Competition Winner

In case you missed it, as part of our anniversary post, we ran a photo competition, with the prize being a Panasonic LS5 Compact Camera.  As usual, the photos posted in the comments were superb, and varied in terms of subject matter and style.  We had a hard time narrowing it down, but with the help of Jonathan and Sophie, here are the finalists.

Nora Leggs.
David Hood.
Ross McA.
Jos.
Kababette.
Sofie B.
Lilith.
David Hood.
Gareth.
Biobbs.
Chris Waugh.
Russell B. (Is that even allowed?)
Joe Wylie.
Carol Green.
Urbanvintner.
Michael Jeans.

Then I put them in this randomiser thingy, and the winner is;

Kebabette! 

I'll drop you a note and work out how best to get the camera to you.

Something For Everyone

I've been trying to work out a way to give something back to everyone for making this place so great, and generally being awesome during what for me has been a challenging year.  If I'd had myself sorted, I'd have got Ian D to print some awesome cards, like these which I just received from Jonathan.  Thanks bro.

But time is short, so I have another idea, which may or may not work, but hopefully I'll get points for trying.

I've put a selection of photos from this year on Flickr, that one way or another sum up the year on Capture, at least for me.  If you click through to the slide show, there's a button top right 'View all sizes'.  There are high res versions of the 9 photos that would print Ok at A4 size.  I even tested it.

If you want, grab one or two, and print them out on sum nice photo paper.  I'd love it if you would, and even more if you'd snap a shot of them hanging on your wall, and post it in the comments.

Merry Christmas from Capture.

Last Words

Now, last year our holiday post had over 1300 comments.  No pressure.

Capture away.

When I first took photos of musicians I was just a teen fan photographing my heroes but I soon became aware that "Rock Photography" was a serious subject and I tried to document the music and the scene as a "fly-on-the-wall" documentary photographer or "photo journalist" as I started shooting for student or music magazines.

As a photographer you either contribute to the myths / bullshit of rock 'n' roll or you try and show some of the grind of promotion and touring. I recall being at Craccum in 1976 and being delighted that our photographer Paul Gilmour (I was designer/"Technical Editor" that year) came back from a press conference with a photo of Frank Zappa drinking a cup of tea.

Shooting un-rock 'n' roll photos became something to aspire to, so I was pleased to get Iggy Pop in his clunky reading glasses laughing at the Talking Heads story in Rip It Up magazine. As we arrived at Iggy's White Heron Hotel room he was still in his pyjamas and I sneaked what seemed like a very un-rock 'n' roll shot but he heard or saw the camera and made it clear, "No photos in my pyjamas."

I've long regretted that I did not capture the beauty of Debbie Harry in my 1977 photos, but now I am starting to appreciate that they show a tired young woman who briefly leaves an international flight in Auckland to do a day's promo. She is giving copies of the New York "Punk" magazine to the Rip It Up writer Jeremy Templer. Working on Rip It Up 1977 to 1998 I learnt that the music business was a hard grind and not a glamourous life as it is sometimes depicted.

For years, Aucklanders loved to see local and foreign heroes at the Queen Street venue Mainstreet Cabaret. There wasn't even a toilet backstage! There's a never-seen-before Graham Brazier shot here. When David Bowie won an industry award a few years back, in his speech he recounted touring Northern England in the Ziggy Stardust period (high heels and all!) and being told to "use the sink." When he expressed his dismay the promoter replied, "It was good enough for Shirley Bassey!" 

Murray Cammick is an Auckland music journalist, photographer, DJ and record label founder. He continues to write for Rip It Up, the New Zealand music magazine he established in 1977 and edited until 1998. His photo essay 'Flash Cars' featured on Capture in November 2011.

On Sunday December 2 at 3pm, Murray Cammick will join music reviewer and writer Nick Bollinger and music photographer Milana Radojcic for an illustrated discussion on their experiences photographing and reviewing rock and roll.

At the Auckland Art Gallery Auditorium - Sunday 2 December at 3pm. Entry is free.

This discussion is part of a series of events running alongside the 'Who Shot Rock & Roll' exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery.