We are just days away from moving out of our house to a small rental while we build our next new house. You may have heard that we are taking the opportunity of a disrupted year to have a good look around NZ, I’m really looking forward to having the time to see and photograph all the quiet little places I usually race through without stopping. I plan to build up a collection of photographs of NZ in 2010, a slice of real New Zealand rather than the normal glossy over the top images we usually see. These images can look a bit underwhelming at the time but several years down the track it’s interesting to see how we change. One of my all time favourite publications is Robin Morrison’s ‘South Island from the Road’, a collection of photographs from around 1980.
Regarding the above photo, when I photographed it last week I couldn’t help but compare it to one I posted a few weeks ago of a blue car outside our garage in Methven. Two photographs of cars outside garage workshops in two little country towns, not very far apart. Similar but not. Life is full of contrast!
Bill, very jealous of your forthcoming trip – you have probably been there already, and maybe you plan to go again, but may I suggest that you spend some time around the Catlins. My family had a crib / batch in Papatowai when I was a kid and my memories are truly fond. I’ve recently returned to NZ after 9 years away, and all of my family returned to Papatowai for xmas for 3 days – I was quite over-whelmed by just how fantastic it still is down there. Still relatively untouched, and plenty of old wooden moss-covered farm buildings lurking around plus much much more – I can’t wait to see the photographic results from your travels. Cheers
Spence, yes it is one of the many areas that I have been through quickly but have always wanted to spend some real time in, seeing beyond the surface and catching good light. It amazes me for a little island just how many places like the Catlins there are to explore.