Capture by A photoblog

Reposted with kind permission from Soon Lee's Livejournal.

Went to Waiheke Island to check out the headland Sculpture on the Gulf 2015 today. The forecast was 40% rain but we chanced it anyway. We got there early and apart from the odd bit of drizzle (which wasn't enough to dampen our enthusiasm) it worked out well; minutes after we finished, the heavy showers arrived.

"First step to existentialism" Christian Nicolson.

This is actually the second sculpture. The first was an augmented reality thing called "WindSong" by Nigel Jamieson and Imersia Ltd. which required an app that you run & listen to: it'll show you sights & sounds at certain locations on the trail. None of us bothered to download it because you then have to run the app; it felt contrary to the vibe of enjoying the sights & sounds of the outdoor environment. I guess it was an idea before its time, or we're old fogeys. So "First step to existentialism" was basically several solar-powered traffic lights scattered along the sculpture trail, the first of which was at the beginning. While the people in front stopped to look at the installation, a man behind us got a bit annoyed.

He thought that:

1. The traffic light was really there to control crowd flow.
2. That the people in front had actually stopped for the red light.
3. Given that we had come up with the first busload of visitors of the day, there was absolutely no reason for us to obey the traffic signal and could we please move along. Stereotypical Aucklander...

"Medley Part I-XIII" Shannon Novak This is the first of twelve poles (each one's different). You're supposed to take a selfie at each & send the pictures to a central repository to be woven into a digital structure. In the end we only found eleven; we think the twelfth was stolen; there's been some unfortunate vandalism & theft. "Target" James Wright A closer look at an arrow. The target. The other side. "The Archive Wine Bar" Dennis O'Connor, a walk-in diorama. It's supposed to feature two bottles of wine from each Waiheke Island winery. "Flying Haptics" John Hurrell was a bunch of "critters" hanging off trees at different parts of the sculpture trail. The Haptics were made from a range of plastics & other materials. "Half A Pallett Of Building Blocks" Matt Ellwood. "Princess XL (fountain #1)" Scott Eady. There is a tap that turns on water spouting out of the marrow but when we got there the water reservoir had run dry. You can see the wet ground under the stool. "Tawhirowhiro" Robert Jahnke & Joshua Campbell. Maori word for spinning/rotation I think. "Artificial Astronomy" Elin & Keino. Pails on poles, each pail labelled with the name of a constellation. When you stand under a pail and look up, you see that holes have been made to let in light mimicking constellations. You can tell from the photo that it was drizzly during this part of the walk. "Garden of Shadows" Virginia King. The sphere, reflection. "Tree Hut" Richard Maloy. "Kitset sculpture number fourteen ("our beautiful ocean")" Stuart Bridson. Use of recycled materials e.g. empty wine bottles as flotation aids. "Landform" Veronica Herber. We walked past it earlier but it was hard to see it properly until we had moved far enough away to look back at it & see the whole thing. "the knot

not and the not now" Audrey Boyle. A fence where you are invited to play around with the wires, tangle & untangle them, tie knots etc. Cute. "making do(-ing) | on enjoying our gardens and other wild places" Xin Cheng & Chris Berthelsen. This one takes interactivity to extremes: you're supposed to use the materials there (a range of what looks like stuff that's been scavenged) to create something in this space, you can bring items to add to the space or take items away with you. "Ikebana Bins" Brydee Rood. Looks to be New Zealand native plants in recycling bins, the bins decorated with gold leaf. "Cr - bovunculae 2014" Tony Bond. Some of the shapes look suggestive... "My Pic Is My Bond" by Anah Dunsheath. Wonder what Sean Connery thinks of this shelfie (h/t )? "Flowers of the sky" Tania Patterson From inside. "The Precariats" Cushla Donaldson. This was the piece that won the prize of show, but had been vandalised. It's interactive, with mallets so you can "play" the sculpture as a percussive instrument, but it was roped-off with no public access. I took this from the cordon. "Crossed Wires" Sharonagh Montrose and Helen Bowater. Giant wires raised off the ground with hidden speakers providing a humming background sound. Attachment ring. A bridge. Strings. "Garden" Suji Park. More pictures from artist's website. Oh hey look: it's James Bond casting his photographic eye over the sculpture! Collection of flasks. Black flask. Figurine. Close-up of figurine. "Field Apart" Angus Muir & Alexandra Heaney was my favourite. It's 36 columns of mirrors & you get a different view with each step you take, not to mention when people walk around you or it. IMO fellow members of public add to the experience. Really pleased with this image. I like the flash of red in

the middle. More reflective of the overcast sky. From farther away. "Parang Param" Seung Yul Oh. It's another of the damaged sculptures. It's meant to be strips of wide silvered ribbons reflecting the sky. Damage. "Sculpture Walk" Paul Radford. You know the way the sculptures merge with the people walking uphill in the background? Totally unintended when I took the photo. Platonic ideals. "Stop the Clock" (Jane & Mario Downes). Giant metal dandelions. Trail of people snaking along the path. Because we started early, we had missed the crowds but it had begun to get more busy as we neared the end of the trail. Visible beside the path is the remaining strip of "Parang Param". "Colonial Fence - a modern day tinker" Jeff Thomson. It's meant to be a collection of items made out of number 8 fencing wire, meant to epitomise the innovative invention of Kiwis. I think it would have benefited from being in a more open spot; being right on the narrow hillside path made it harder to enjoy. Chair. Spinning wheel. "The Return of Manuruhi" Ioane Ioane. Manuruhi is linked to the origin story of Maori carving. Manuruhi. Manuruhi (close-up). These fans/turbines made from empty plastic bottles weren't listed in the official programme but in the windy conditions were a nice contrast of motion & stillness. Plastic turbine. "Massive Vessel" David McCracken Close-up. "Star Mound" Lonnie Hutchinson This geometric sculpture wasn't listed in the programme either. Through the hole. "Shadow" Ben Foster. Of a shark, looks like.

My sixth Laneway, and another year in Silo Park for the Auckland festival.

This year, thanks to Russell securing a media pass for Capture, I got into the pit for the first three songs of each set. I don't think I've ever worked so hard as a photographer, but I had a lot of fun, and certainly got a lot closer to the performers than previously possible.

They had to stretcher me out at the end. Pretty much.

I've got to run off to work, so may add more commentary later. For now, please kick in with your own Laneway photos in the comments.

Capture away.

Reposted with kind permission from Gio's blog Bat, Bean, Beam.

Our trip down South was a decade in the planning, an idea we routinely abandoned each year around the month of October once we realised that the all-devouring needs of family would foil us again. So this time we just booked five one-way plane tickets to Christchurch as a way of making the trip non-refundable, therefore definitely happening. The kindness of a friend and some fortunate last-minute bookings made sure we had somewhere to stay and the beginnings of an itinerary.

The trip involved a great deal of driving – 2,200 kilometres by my rough reckoning – which fell entirely upon my partner, so I was able to take some pictures. As I shared them on Twitter recently (if you’ve seen them, you’ve read this post), a couple of people suggested I check out Robin Morrison’s The South Island of New Zealand From the Road, a relatively recent (1981) but emphatically out-of-print book that I was able to study today at the Turnbull Library. And a catalogue of beautiful pictures it is, without doubt, yet also oddly skewed. There is not a single image of Christchurch, save for the interior of a restaurant. Nothing from urban Dunedin, either. Its favourite subjects are windswept landscapes and quirky buildings, remote cottages and farmhouses, aging workers and retired couples. It’s a South Island cast by its unique light in stark loneliness, tied to old industries – like mining or crop farming – while progress may be presumed to happen elsewhere. This picture in the Morrison book is indicative of their somewhat bleak geometry.

Our own impression was warmer, less angular. There was of course the quiet shock of Christchurch, more so for Justine who had never been there. And here I didn’t allow myself to take photographs – like Morrison, though for different reasons – save for this stunning remedial trompe-l'œil in Manchester Street. I’m told it’s by Mike Hewson. (When trying to locate the exact spot on Google, I discovered the Street View shots are still pre-earthquake.)

Discretion aside, taking pictures of Christchurch for the tourist is pointless because in no way it captures the experience of moving within the city – which may be why the images from Christchurch communicate little to the rest of us, until we’re actually there. When I visited last August I got lost one evening and stumbled, alone, into Cathedral Square. The giant ruined building seemed in no proportion to anywhere or anything else. Had I been inclined to take its picture, I would have simply lacked the vantage point.

It has a lot of road, the South Island of New Zealand, and a tremendous amount of sky. We hope to be back soon.

Links

1) Carnegie Libraries erected in New Zealand

2) Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored room.

Cobbled together while taking a break on Waiheke, it seems there is some pent up need for a pohutukawa post.

You may have heard about the six Pohutukawa that are under threat to make way for a hyperspace bypass [sic], and in their honour, and just because they do seem to be particularly beautiful this year, here's a kick start for sharing your best pohutukawa shots.

We're not fussy about varieties either. Well, I'm not, as my favourite and most photographed tree in our front yard is a Kermadec.

Happy New Year.

Alan Whicker once said that you should write down everything that amazes you on the first day you arrive in a new place – because what amazes you on the first day will seem like the norm the next day. I carry a notebook everywhere I go but rarely rely on it to write down what I find amazing in my very fortunate travels. Instead I rely on my camera – currently a Canon G1X – which I don't ever leave home without.

Most of the shots here were taken in Old Delhi, a small part of the massive (17.5m) modern Delhi metropolis that looks like it hasn't changed since the Moghul emperors were enthroned just down the hill in the Red Fort. Of course the power lines and omnipresent smartphones give the lie to that, but this is still a place where rickshaws and bullock carts are primary forms of transport.

I felt unthreatened mostly (aside from being chased towards the main street by a fairly demented looking guy on all fours at one time). However I was also aware that I – unlike when I walk in most Asian countries taking photos – quite clearly did not belong there and I was a little uncomfortable as a gora pushing a lens into other's lives.

The other place I most wanted to photograph was the inside of a subway carriage at rush hour, but the pressure of several hundred in small box meant it was physically impossible to find space to get my camera, or even my phone out.