New Zealand Visual Artist Based in Christchurch New Zealand.

Beekeeper Gerard.

Gerard was kind enough to invite me to the North Canterbury Beekeeping Club’s AGM a few months ago where he is the president and I met some beekeepers – and since documented them. This week I ventured out to Gerards beautiful Eyreton property where he keeps himself busy with all sorts of projects- with beekeeping being very prominent.

Gerard has all the equipment to harvest and extract honey, as well as an ingenious bee wax melting tool, that facilities candle making. His home is a green paradise with so many trees and plant life, and a handful of hives scattered throughout, and it turns out that Gerard was a Physics teacher prior to retiring. In a few weeks I’m going to attend a hive day and connect with other keepers as we head to the finish of this project at ARA in late November. I’ll be continuing the project in two 2022 though FYI as I want to document a complete season and more diversity.

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Lucy.

I’ve photographed Lucy quite a lot and every time, making images is such a great experience. Lucy is a masseur, and we often exchange massages for photos, and this visit she was keen to capture her with ‘Peach’ the cat at home amongst the beautiful plant life, that her mum is obsessed with. I took a handful of images before the little tiger decided that life was better away from the camera. If you want to trade portraits- let me know.

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Yashica MG1- First Roll.

I’ve just had the light seals repaired on my recent acquisition, a Yashica Mg1 rangefinder 35mm camera from the mid 1970’s and took it for its first proper roll at Hagley Park. I’m becoming more and more obsessed with trees and their wonder. Once upon a time I would ride my mountain bike or blaze past trees while running and not really notice their glory. Yet as an avid walker, with the slower pace, I’m now overwhelmed with their presence. Doing a loop yesterday of Hagley I mediated on the light and forms which surrounded me, and this camera just feels great for this type of work. I’m really happy with the way the images look, feel and portray the wisdom of these elders that surround us.

I’ve also been using a new film from Rollei- RPX 400 for both 35mm and 120 recently. It’s cheap, gritty and so far lovely to develop and scan. The ability to pull back highlights or over exposed frames is pretty spectacular too if I’m honest. Actually, for 35mm work I much prefer this film to my usual Ilford HP5 now. This series of images are going towards a larger project as I capture more trees in Hagley over coming months after spending what seems like an eternity trying to work out how I could share my love for this Christchurch park though photography.

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Beekeeper Robert.

I met Robert at the North Canterbury Beekeeprs Club (like many I’ve captured!) and he was kind enough to invite me and Thomas to his home to capture his portrait with his dogs and chickens. We chatted about family mostly and Robert helped suggest some more leads within the Beekeeping community to help me capture more diversity. Some chat about technology unfolded, and seems to be a topic in the community that divides. For example, technologies such as automatic weighing sensors underneath hives indicate optimal honey extraction vs traditional methods of checking by hand. It’s these types of electronic methods and approaches that commercial ventures, not all it seems, can utilise for better yields of Honey. Or liquid gold, you could say.

During the development of one roll of three, I unfortunately removed the ‘light sealing funnel’ from a development tank and the whole roll was instantly ruined. It’s never nice when you loose images and especially when they were the ‘kookiest’ of the set. Robert would be game to re-shoot this set I’m sure, but part of me believes what is meant to be is meant to be, and re-shooting is not true to the natural progression of the project. I’m pretty happy with the set regardless.

Yes, this is twice within a week I’ve messed up during the development stage, and I disrespected the process, so it disrespected me I guess. I declared that I would stop developing in the evenings and went ahead and did exactly that while tired once again. I’ve now swapped things around, and moved development 100% to the following day, and scanning negatives if required into the evening. I’ve learnt my lesson. Next week I’m going to slow things down more. Anyway, next week I’m going to photograph a husband and wife operation near the Southern Alps, and they employ all casual staff who are Mums. I may have hit a jackpot for documenting more females within the community, and I’ll share more about this later.

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Megan and Steve – Mount Lyford Honey.

This photoshoot was in two parts and my Wife Amy, and Son Thomas came along for the experience. We headed to Megan’s Amberly home first on route to Mount Lyford Honey where we met her Daughter Sophie who is also a beekeeper (who I’ll be photographing soon), and her five + dogs. We then headed to meet Steve, Megans partner, who owns the Mount Lyford operations, and based in Lyford. We got there quite late and the light was perfect, but fading fast, so we got straight to it, with views of Mount Lyford who really put on a beautiful display for us with no cloud covering her peak.

We captured around the property, inside the honey packing operations, and finally in Steves living room and a truly magnificent mirror- a giant Piranha. We chatted about all sorts of bee talk and mostly surrounding the technologies in the industry as well as how not disturbing the bees during honey extraction not only keeps them alive, it also improves the yield. By all accounts it can take upto 2 years for a colony to settle, grow and be happy enough to then produce excess honey outside of the amount required to sustain the colony.

Mount Lyford Honey prides itself on the fact their honey is 100% natural and derived from the available flowers, rather than feeding the colonies refined sugar. A practice that apparently is very common within the New Zealand beekeeping community. After I capture Sophie, who is a keen horse rider, I would have documented the complete crew at Mount Lyford Honey, who have all been brilliant to get to know and spend time with. Thanks for organising everything Megan! During the development of one roll, the ‘funnel lid’ of the Paterson tank fell out when I was pouring the chemistry back into the bottle. The light thankfully was not direct from above and leaks were manageable during post editing. The negatives were mostly OK but I lost a few images due to fogging and a crazy contrast shift, that breaks my heart. It was a mistake that could have been avoided too if I had simply the next day, as I was very tired. I must slow down and respect the developing process more.

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Rakaia Gorge Track.

The Rakaia Gorge Track is about an hours drive from Christchurch and I’ve walked this beautiful hike maybe 5 times now. I’ve been craving some wilderness time since lockdown, and as much as I love Hagley Park and the walk to it along Papanui Road, I would be happy to never take that route on foot again after more than 150 KM.

We are blessed to have such stunning parks in Christchurch and the rolling Port Hills, but the mountains are where I feel most freedom and a profound connection to Mother Nature. The Rakaia Gorge Track was a good introduction back to hikes with climbs, with the Southern Alps literally shouting to me with their sweet sweet winds. The sun was shining, birds singing and people on the track were happy and open. The hike lasted about 4 hours with some detours, tree hugging (yes I’m a hippy at heart), and meditating on the light at the main attraction- the stunning Rakaia Gorge. It was a shock to the legs though after so much flat. The burn was real.

To walk amongst Earths wonder is a grounding experience for me, and always utterly profound the wilder it gets. During a deeply forested part of the trail, I stopped with the sun glinting through the wisdom that surrounded me, and I had an overwhelming realisation that everything was going to be OK. Mother Nature is fighting back and being even closer by her side moving forward is the right path. If you actually stop, look and listen next time you are surrounded by her wonder, you too will feel this realisation too.

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Beekeeper Rod.

Rod is a beekeeper at Bee my Honey and lives in Lincoln on a beautiful lifestyle block, with the hives, Wife and three Daughters. I took my Son Thomas with me on this shoot and he hit the jackpot with horses, dogs and alpaca to spend time with as we waited for the light to get better. We had some interesting chats about all sorts of subjects including social media use and how it effects our kids, through to a period when Rod went to the states and returned some years ago to face some dramatic loss of hives due to parastic invasions. What was apparent spending time with Rod is his love for his family, outdoors and the animals he cares for. A great combination.

Interestingly, I captured a selection of images in this set using Cinestiill 800 which traditionally is used for night time image making. The results were great and looked similar to that of Fujifilm 400H in my opinion. What a shame though it is $30 a roll :/ A pack of Portra 800 for this project is going to be more cost effective for sure.

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Beekeeper Larry.

Larry is a beekeeper at Mount Lyford Honey and lives a few minutes past Amberly in a beautiful area surrounded by green rolling hills. Megan, Larrys step mother organised this shoot, and like others has been really helpful. By next week I will have documented all staff in their happy place, who work at Mount Lyford Honey. After spending some time on the dirt road outside of Larry’s home, he allowed me to spend time inside their family home and was greeted by his beautiful family. Larry is into hunting outside of beekeeping and invited me in to see his wall of stag heads. I’m always ever so grateful when people open up their personal lives to share with me for a few minutes. It’s a real privledge. This weekend I’ll be visiting beekeepers at Mount Lyford for the first time, and I can’t wait.

Yesterday while shooting at 1/4 and f3.5 it was apparent that I need to start having the capacity to capture portraits more reliably indoors for this series. I was asking Larry to keep still as if it was the 1900’s to avoid any blur due to such a long shutter speed. I’m looking into carrying the third TLR with the option to shoot colour or black and white (HP5 or Portra) rated at ISO 1600 and push during development. I’ll run a few experiments at home first and see what happens. The other option is to buy some Portra 800 and push to ISO 1600 (+1 vs +2) that might avoid common issues pushing Portra such as in creased contrast, colour shifts and increased grain. I LOVE these indoor portraits, but there was an element of luck yesterday with most exhibition some motion blur, which I don’t want to test again!

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Hivemaster Gordon.

Since the early 1960’s Gordon has been involved with the Christchurch Hobbyist Beekeeping Club on this same plot of land. For a decade he’s been the hive master too, and yesterday It was a privilege to spend time with Gordon as the sun settled against the horizon. We talked about bee behaviour and in particular how temperature affects the colony, and where not to stand around hives if you don’t want to get attacked. Gordon invited me to the next club meetup in October which will be a great way to meet more beekeepers, including younger folk and females.

He showed me around the beautiful plot that has a classroom, working hives, BBQ area and a purposefully planted/ cultivated selection of trees, shrubs, and plants that offer flowers to the bees. The light of the day caught me off guard to be honest, and was hard to work with it being so strong and bright. Springtime change has snuck up with the days drawing outwards, and it’s time to push shoots forward from 4.30 – 5.30 start. I’m busy again with image making with the next five days booked out with beekeeper portraits. Good times!

I’m settling into the photographic process again after weeks of lockdown and personal projects,  and was comfortable scanning today with the realisation that every portrait of this series is different due to location and light, and now the set has grown, I’m satisfied with this.

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Yashica MG1 & Yashica D.

I picked up a new 35mm camera last week, a rangefinder Yashica MG1 that’s in like new condition. I believe it was made in the mid 70’s and due to the original battery that’s not manufactured anymore still within it upon delivery, I maybe the first to use it after 40 years. It has been stored well as it’s fungus free, all shutter speeds work as they should and with a battery hack, the meter seems to also function as it should too. Sometimes you find real gems and I feel this is one. I’m quite taken by it.

Just before lockdown I also picked up another TLR for next to nothing, a Yashica D and after having it serviced due to a very common issue of sticky shutter blades at low speeds, I’m happy to report that’s its focus and operation is spotless. The front leatherette was damaged during the service, but easily replaced, yet I actually love the way to looks, and going to keep it as is. I now have 3 operational and regular used TLR’s, and two are Yashica’s. I really love these cameras, as they seem to have so much soul. Don’t get me wrong, my Rolleicord VB is a beautiful camera too, and the images it makes are stunning, but it lacks the emotional attachment I seem to have with my highly underrated Yashica cameras. I’m such a nerd.

Here are a selection of images captured on the Mg1 (35mm monochrome), and the Yashica D (6×6 – taken from this lockdown project.) There are epic light leaks that ruin the MG1 photos to some degree, so I’ve decided to let John at Fototech take care of the last part of restoring the camera – the light seals. He does such an amazing job servicing my film cameras, and feel the MG1 deserves the very best as it heads to it’s working retirement. Haha.

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Beekeeper Robert. 

The whole of New Zealand went into level 4 lockdown yesterday at midnight, but I was fortunate to spend the last light of the day with Robert who I met at the NC Beekeeping club. His Ohoka property was about 30 mins drive from the city, and nestled amongst some beautiful landscape. The house was built for the family some 35 years prior  and the trees that surround the home were just saplings planted as part of the development of the land. For the last 20 or so years of his working career, Robert was involved in the funding of research across a very broad range of projects, with one project in particular involved with the improvement of pollination in Kiwifruit, and it was that project which led him to eventually keeping several hives at home. Roberts hives are mostly the design found in the UK- but with the traditional NZ hives placed inside. This design I’m assured offers better cooling and warmth year round. You could say that they are more aesthetically pleasing too.

Robert like all of the keepers I’ve met is a really warm and friendly chap, and we enjoyed tea while talking about a range of topics surrounding beekeeping, as we waited for the best light of the day. I’m becoming totally fascinated by all of the insights surrounding beekeeping, and already can see myself getting into this hobby over the Summer. The last frames I captured were of Robert in his beautiful ‘retro’ styled home, and I’m really stoked that I hit focus. Manually focussing these cameras from 50’s and 60’s is tricky on a good day, but in a dull lit scene with the sun setting, and towards the edges of the frame, even more so.

One thing i’ve noticed is that the Yashica635 seems to focus easier for sure, or is it more true to the focussing you see looking into the ground glass? At 3.5 – 5.6 it’s also clearly sharper than the Rolleicord too, but the results when either hit focus are worth the anxiety. It’s a roller coaster of emotions that only film offers. I guess both cameras are different across multiple aspects from the aesthetics, to how the lens behaves. Hence why I aim to shoot 3 frames per scene – to increase the odds of focus on these beautiful but tricky machines!

With level 4 restrictions now hitting hard NZ wide, this project is on hold until we can freely connect with others outside our bubbles. A bit of downtime will be good though as I connect more via email with others in search of the diversity that the project deserves, and in particular more female, younger enthusiasts, and Maori beekeepers. Maybe it’s time for some still life and self portraits at home to keep me busy?! Thankfully I can still get outside to exercise though while this outbreak settles.

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Beekeeper Kevin.

Yesterday I spent the late afternoon with Kevin who I met at the North Canterbury Beekeepers Club AGM last week, and we shot his portrait at his Christchurch property. He and his wife were so friendly, as per all keepers I’m meeting, and I captured Kevin inside his home and yard. Kevin has been into beekeeping for more than 30 years and it started with his Father who kept bees. He sent a link to a video made by David Alexander, another NC Beekeeping Club member and former photography tutor, for his 70th birthday in 2020. You can see Kevins story and passion for bees here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Nb_ThteJQ

Kevin wanted the painting that sits above the family TV captured as it’s quite special to him, and is of a scene from Ikoraki Bay, an isolated bay on the southern coast of Banks Peninsula. It shows a Family holiday, with their tent and Fathers combi van against the rolling hills and ocean.

What’s being reinforced as this series builds is just how different the aesthetics of every set of images are on film, and check out the different characteristics and mood of the Yashica635 (monochrome) and Rolleicord VB (colour) with the Yashy showing off some true SOUL. It loves to seperate the background wide open, and that lens flare too! My desert island camera for sure. Yes I’m doubling up here, but felt the need to shoot both, and a pretty interest comparison for sure.

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Beekeepers Leiah, Rowan and David.

This weekend has been amazing. The hard work of reaching out to beekeepers and commercial ventures as well as the extensive organising of shoots is finally starting to yield some fun. IMAGE MAKING! Initally I was terrified with the scale of this project, and soon realised I had opened a literal can of worms when it came to the logistics and scope of it. Then there were the early nerves and internal battle that my skills were good enough to manage the various levels of this photoshoot as a whole. I’m happy to share that those early nerves have been replaced with pure joy and excitement as I meet more people who are vital for the sucess of the project. I’m genuinely stoked at how warm and inviting the bee community has been, and the people who I’ve spent time with for portraits have been fantastic subjects.

I want to quickly discuss my obsessions with monochrome vs colour too. I’ve posted multiple updates with regards to the turmoil faced choosing what medium to use, and after yesterdays portraits I came to a realisation that the early critique at ARA which had posed the question WHY do I want to use black and white so much over colour, had knocked my confidence. Just like the studies ay Ilam Fine Arts, under the teachings of Tim, the WHY? was also posed towards of the majority of my earlier image making too, and it, like now derailed my whole process of image making. It’s quite a profound relationship to the WHY, and my gut reaction was because of the aesthetics, and ability to tell a story, and cohesion of images in as as a set. All of which are valid reasons, but I still felt like I had not explored a more meaningful reasoning for monochrome vs colour. Yesterday I came to the realisation that as a photographer I allow the the scene to invite me to capture it in colour  or monochrome. I don’t actually have a preference, and it’s the elements of the image that dictate I shoot black and white or colour. The thing is that this process has always dictated my choice to capture colour imagery, but it was such a subconscious process that until being asked WHY?, I had never stopped to examine it. I was thrown into a mild frenzy over the past month, and I’m now at peace with it. Does this insight matter? For me yes, as I’m now not anxious about what medium I employ- I will, as i’ve always done, let the scene dictate the choice and allow that process to continue.

Yesterday I met up with Leiah and Rowan, from Mt. Lyford Honey at a place that they like to spend time outside of work, alongside the River at Leithfield. We captured portraits and chatted about their roles working at a commercial honey making operation. On route the rain was so torrential that I was concerned that the images would look like drown rats! I was also worried about my gear from the 1950’s and 60’s getting trashed, as these cameras are not weather sealed in anyway. Once I arrived the rain became lighter and we managed to create a set. I did have water droplets on my viewing screen though, and that made for some interesting focussing. Later that afternoon, I then met with David who works on the hives at ARA that are set on the roof in the city. David is also involved with the Christchurch hobbyist beekeepers club too, and has engaged a connection to this club, with an invite by the hivemaster to shoot images of their members. David’s property had such a nice feel to it and we chatted more about his role at ARA where he has worked for more than 25 years, as well as his love for beekeeping. He had a few hives in his yard that with his ‘loud’ shirt called out for Kodak Portra. Please see above.

I look forward to each week at ARA with the feedback form the group now. It also motivates me to keep making images, and it pushes me to make better photographs too. So yes, this week has been quite interesting towards not only my process as a whole, but also how the project is starting to make some traction. One thing is for sure though, there will be no discussions about light metering or my torment over monochrome vs colour moving forward!

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Thoughts on Beekeeper Project.

This blurb was part of my last post, but I thought it better to seperate it and keep focus on the project. Beekeepers I’m now discovering, are literally EVERYWHERE.

I’ve turned a corner (finally)when it comes to metering images and feel like I’ve found a middle ground. The reason I was having issues in the first place was that during landscape captures my exposure was quite often under. I’d not had this issue prior when shooting portraits, so it was a bit of a head scratcher. I was using the same metering app and process as employed for portrature, but as mentioned, the exposures were off. Over the past month I’ve been testing a few processes to see if I can fix the issue, and I’m finally there. I started shooting and rating the 400 ISO film at 320 for a while and Simons portraits show great results of this approach, that are really good exposures for Kodak Portra 400. But that was for portraits in a small back yard, and even when rating the film at 320 I was still having problems with landscapes. So during my last hike I tried shooting 2 rolls of Portra and 3 of HP5 rated to 200 instead of 400 ISO to see if this fixed the landscape exposure one and for all. What I found was that all of the images were mostly over exposed so it went to far. Not so much of an issue for HP5, but this played havoc with some of the coloured photos, with loss of proper detail in the highlights/ sky. After this quite extensive experimental period, I’ve now finally come to a good compromise with metering for landscape portraits, that is rating the film at 320 ISO and expose for the shadows in the FOREGROUND. Interestingly during this lengthy process I’ve discovered that instead of choosing elements mid or at the rear of the scene, exposing for the foreground yields the best results with the iPhone app that I use. So the approach for both scenes is to now rate film at 320 ISO, and meter for shadows in the foreground of the scene. Portraits are usually metered for the subject, and landscapes now for dark or even mid shadowed regions such as the ground or bushes in the foreground.

I’m still tormented by my love for black and white over colour. Honestly I’m so obsessed with monochrome that colour is seemingly more of a distraction to my process it seems. Well that’s my point of view anyway. Ilford HP5 also holds highlights so well that subjects such as average skies look like they have something vs that of Portra that struggles. Post editing colour is also unbelievably time consuming, as the grading process is vital and really makes or breaks the image collection as a whole. I’ve always had to spend some quality time getting the colours just right, and can require a heap of tweaking as the set unfolds. It’s a constant process of backwards and forwards the more you scan and add to the group of captures.

Meanwhile black and white looks pretty amazing from the start, with editing mostly consisting of contrast and shadow choices. HP5 is also cheaper, hugely! But when a colour image works it’s utter MAGIC! So, as mentioned, to ease my anxiety, I’m shooting black and white and colour for the bee project. I’m now leaning more towards mostly black and white once more, with a few colour. It feels like I’m looking for reasons to not shoot colour, and maybe that’s true. But when I look at my black and white work it hits hard. It’s more emotive. It not only has a beautiful aesthetic, but monochrome seems to tell a story in a single frame, while sets of images in a collection have more cohesion than that of colour. Who would have thought I would have so much inner turmoil over this!

I’m now shooting on my tripod extensively too, and often with a cable release, which allows the obvious perk of managing slower shutter speeds, but it also brings another level of slowing down. I like it a lot. So yes, this week signals the end of extensive personal work and the experimentation of better exposures. This is good as it has been quite tiring, and very distracting. Best of all the anxiety caused by worrying about exposures once the project kicked off is less!

Today was also a big admin day, and it is becoming quite involved as you can imagine. I’ve got some portraits organised for this weekend and during the week next, which is fantastic. As long as I have weekly shoots organised, I’m happy! I was at the North Canterbury Beekeeping Clubs AGM in Rangiora on Wednesday to meet the group. There were about 18 people present and they were so welcoming. I loved chatting with them about their passions- while organising how we can capture them at home and then hives. They also showed me pictures of their best bee stings on their phones. Ha! The topic of representing the community fully across all ages and cultures was also discussed with Robert, and this has been my goal from the start. The photo opportunities from all angles are steadily coming into my inbox, and by phone, and I cannot wait to capture a whole range of keepers in their homes and then at their precious hives as it warms up. Here are a few images from the NC Beekeeping Clubs AGM. I was gifted a honey comb by one of the members too, that quite frankly is the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Wow!

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Washpen Falls.

With the weather forecast of gale force winds and rain in the Craigieburn ranges we opted for a different hike yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I love being out in all weathers, and I have the gear to manage it, but wind and rain combined is not a good recipe- rather hypothermia. Zuzana suggested we try Washpen Falls Darfield way, and after what felt like a strange hard left turn on route to the Alps, and some mediation with Jesus, we ended up a private walking track an hour later.

I purposefully took my large pack loaded with the two cameras (Yashica635 and Rolleicord VB), some layers and waterproofs, a bag of fruit and nuts, water, film supplies, and my heavy, but steady tripod. I’m trying to add more weight when hiking at the moment leading towards some kind of hike fitness come Springtime and camping. Anyway, the hike was mildly technical in places due to sloppy and slippery mud mostly, with some steep up and downs that maxed out at only 150M. It felt higher than that though due to some steep gradients heading up. The track that is rated as a 2 hour loop seemed to have all sorts of environments from pine forest, rushing rivers, waterfalls and open grassy hills. It kind of reminded me of multiple hikes i’ve done all compressed into a short but fun walk.

What really fascinated me yesterday was the cloud formations in this region. There seemed to be what looked like warm and cold air colliding (I’m guessing) and the results produced Yin and yang like formations in the sky- being dark and light. I could not take my eyes off it! The blue colour was intense. We also met a guy, Greg, who had hiked up to fly his drone and we captured some portraits too. His process was hectic TBH and required so many batteries! We laughed at how my process was mostly mechanical- aside from iPhone light metering, as he placed what looked like a VR unit over his face and piloted the machine around the sky. It was too windy though, so that was short lived for the portraits. We were literally the only people on the track and because of that got some great opportunities to shoot the water falls and rushing rivers. I imagine over the busy months of Summer the movement on the bridge where you capture the falls would have so much foot traffic the camera would be moving terribly. We had a good hike and this region is definitely worth a visit.

I noticed that they sell honey made on the farm too, and with the visitor centre (where you pay your $10 walk fee) being mostly staff free, i’ve grabbed a flier and will be emailing them about the Beekeeper project.

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Three Crosses on Route to Washpen Falls.

On route to Washpen Falls (a beautifully windy and green hilly drive) on way to Washpen Falls hike yesterday we noticed what looked like three giant crucifixes on a hillside against a stunning pine forest. The crucifix sculptures amongst this beautiful scene looked very interesting, and passing the gate we read;

“All Welcome. The crosses and tomb are in memory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please take time to visit. Sit and meditate.”

Of course I then wanted to go check it out and wondered into the paddock and up to the 3 crosses. They were well made and clearly were put in place with some serious machinery, and it all felt so surreal with a glowing presence against the sky. There was the ‘tomb’ like bunker cut into the dirt with some more evidence of hard labour close by, and you had to bow down as you entered. Not sure why? Is there a significance of the small doorway? Once inside it was full of printed verses (that I don’t really understand) on the walls from what I assume is the Bible, an artwork and various pamphlets declaring the end of the world was coming- mostly.

As a man whose own beliefs don’t not always align with the Western ideologies of Religion- I do struggle sometimes to appreciate these narratives. Yet I’m also compelled to respect and appreciate that other peoples beliefs also take many forms and its not for me to question this. To build a monument like this takes it to the next level though, and there was definitely some interesting energy surrounding these structures. Should I call the number on the gate sign? Should I take the time to try and capture this persons portrait? Should I spend an afternoon with the maker? I’m fascinated to be honest, but I’m going to think for a while on this one. I’ve always wanted to explore people with such strong beliefs and make a series, so I might in the future.

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Beekeeper Simon.

As part of this beekeeping project I’m aiming to document keepers at their homes as well as on location at the hives. Put simply, I want to have a series of images that contrast the more personal portraiture with the more anonymous imagery of keepers dressed in their working uniforms. One thing to highlight is just how anxious I’ve been during the past few weeks with regards to this project, and in particular capturing the portraits of people in their homes. Even though i’ve been a commercial shooter for more than a decade, that process has been refined over the years to a point of the whole experience is now muscle memory. I’ve spent thousands of hours refining that commercial part of my photographic life, whereas photographing everyday people with no brief in their intimate spaces is pretty much day one hour one! Even though it’s new to me and very much out of my comfort zone to the point of pre-shoot nausea, yesterday went exceptionally well and I’m now over that first creative hurdle. It feels good!

I feel so emotionally invested in this project though that it may be getting in the way. Last night after developing the first roll of images that captured Simon from Goldfern Honey and his family, I sat scanning with a feeling of panic as I watched the images appear on the screen. I want every session of this project to be a great experience for the subjects, myself and my developing process. But I may be setting to high a standard from the start. I’ve got to be more at peace with myself if sometimes things don’t go to plan as I’m choosing to capture this project on film that has an inbuilt capacity to sometimes ‘just not work as planned’ and look softer than its digital counterpart. I’m 100% OK with these realities when it comes to all of my other film photography, but I guess this project is my most important series to date, and I have high expectations of the results. This emotional roller coaster to most sounds dreadful, but it’s this journey in film that makes the whole experience worth the time and effort, as when it does all come together it is utter magic! It’s a constant learning process that I’m 100% invested in and it literally gets me out of bed day after day. I can’t say the same for digital anymore. I am telling myself that worst case scenario, I can always reshoot portraits in this series if required, and that’s OK.

I’m also struggling to decide if I go all in black or white or colour for the series, and It’s a discussion to have with the critique group today at ARA as we move into week 4 of the project. I was pretty set on shooting all of this series on Ilford HP5, but feedback last week was that colour may be a better option for publishing prospects. I’ve had plans to shoot colour but not as a majority of images made, and as more a ‘few here and there’, but maybe colour is more important? I’ve been exploring a lot of fine art photography books from the fantastic University of Canterbury Library this week, and I was in some way compelled to select a stack of work that was captured in colour. Alec Soth’s new book  “I know how furiously your heart is beating” in particular got me thinking more seriously about using colour for this project as each of his images plays homage to coloured elements within the frame adding meaning to the story of the portrait. Flicking though his amazing work feels like a journey of discovery and if I’m honest, colour plays a large role in this experience.

He also talks about allowing the creative portrait process to unfold naturally without exploitive practice- but that’s a discussion for another blog post. Looking through the pages of the books with most being coloured, I now feel inspired to at least shoot colour as much as possible when it comes to the portraits of people at their home or comfortable spaces. It’s a good compromise, and I can capture some monochrome too if it unfolds that way, but for now I’m set on colour for this series as a whole, with black and white for ‘B-roll’ as such. This is the reverse of my initial plans. This first set of portraits are of Simon and his family at their Cashmere home. Shot on Kodak Portra 400 on the Rolleicord VB rated at ISO 200 instead of 400. Images developed at home using Cinestill chemistry and scanned using a Epson V550.

While not ideal, the set was shot fully open at F3.5 which does add a dream like feeling to the images. Again… do I want this aesthetic? It’s the reality of film though with set ISO, when the light is so dark, and I’m not brave enough yet to push (develop longer to achieve a higher ISO) the film, so I have to work with what I have. Overall I’m stoked with the set and even happier to have got the first portrait done and dusted! I’ve got quite a list of leads to shoot over the coming weeks and excited to see how it unfolds, and I’ve moved from a list of contacts in Word- with notes- to a CRM at Capsule. This is helping me keep on top of the admin associated with managing shoots, follow ups, model releases and posing the series of questions, and is free to use upto 250 contacts.

Update. After todays group critique I’ve decided to make the process of image making simple and utilise both cameras to capture colour and black and white. My heart says shoot exclusively monochrome, but it makes sense to give my self as many options as possible moving towards trying to get this work published. As part of my image taking process, and as you may well see in this set of images, I tend to shoot ‘scenes’ in 3’s if it takes my fancy. I aim to shoot 3 colour, swap cameras, and shoot 3 black and white, and if time allows and the subject is not annoyed, repeat until I’ve captured 24 images across two rolls. Simon was happy to shoot more work so maybe we will do a second round in his beautiful back yard in the coming months. Options are good!

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Craigieburn Visit.

I’m trying to pace myself on this beekeeping project as it continues to grow every week with the admin and coordination of photography shoots. I really enjoy being busy with image making though, and love the whole process from organising locations to loading cameras and self development with chemistry with digitally scanning. It really does get me out of bed in the mornings. As I adjust to the reality of the next 4 months of work for the beekeeper project I still want to keep shooting other work. My Craigieburn project inspired me to head back out that way yesterday as the weather was terrible. During these months of foul whether the mood out in the mountains is just beautiful, and of course there is snow. Summer time in my opinion, has the Canterbury region looking very similar, yet during Wintertime, every gorge, plateau, plain, and mountain top has its own visual language. The drive was quite direct as I had limited time, and very ‘touristy’ with lots of stops on the way compared to the majority of my time spent in the mountains.

The results are pretty good though, and showcases the beauty of this region. Here are some images on route and at the forest. As a side note, I’m finding Portra more and more contrasty and colour saturated these days. I guess it was because I shot landscapes for months on Fujifilm 400 that’s more subtle and desaturated, and I fell for that look. To mimic the now defunct Fujifilm 400 I’m boosting Portra shadows a bit, and de saturating the negatives. Colour negatives do take longer to process due to the grading, but the results are worth it IMHO.

Colour imagery is Kodak Portra 400 on the Yashica635, and B&W is Ilford HP5 on Rolleicord VB.

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Hives Visit 2.

Second visit to the hives set amongst some beautiful Canterbury mountain landscapes yesterday. It was icy cold with a sprinkling of snow on the ranges, and extremely boggy underfoot. The bee activity seems less somewhat this visit, so I’m assuming that the heavy rain recently has not been the best for their communities. I came back to capture the image with the trees in the background as the last roll had some issues. I got a bit lost and discovered more hives and new places/ angles to capture them, so that was great.

Thoughts? Metering was somewhat better this visit and I set the ISO to 250 vs the rated 400 which helped boost details in the shadows. I’m still not 100% happy with it though, so have some more experimentation to do. I’m also leaning towards a less contrasty image, with details across the tonal range for this series. Feedback from group critique noted how flat the images looked and by adding more tonal range this seems to have been remedied when tested with a series of A4 prints.

I can’t afford to hand hold my second camera that is loaded with Portra 400 at slower shutter speeds though as I move towards more critical portrait image making, so I’ve ordered a second Manfrotto tripod plate to make switching between cameras on the tripod the only option moving forward. I’ve done pretty well hand holding my TLR’s when required at dusk, but feel better with this decision. I’m happy with the composition of this second set as I find my feet in week 3. I’ve also secured multiple portraits of beekeepers in the coming week so now time to move onto capturing the connection of people to their environments (aiming for both home and on location). Colour imagery has become more of a focus for this project too (fuelled by feedback), and I’m becoming more conscious of ensuring I shoot more, especially for portraits in home environments.

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Beekeeper Project. Hives.

I’m now entering the last 4 months of my photography degree at ARA here in Christchurch, and It has been quite the journey getting to this point. Two years were spent at Ilam Fine Arts, and for mental health reasons did not work out well for me, yet has engaged quite a unique process (thanks Tim) when it comes to image making in conjunction with the ARA way of teaching (thanks John). It is a great sign that I speak of process, as this is really the biggest take away for me after 4 solid years of learning and image making. Insights to my process!

For the final year the focus has been towards a large, mostly self driven photography project with the research driven proposal in the first half, and now the fun part! IMAGE MAKING. This final project will focus on the beekeeping community of the Christchurch and Canterbury region. My goal is to capture images of New Zealand’s beekeeping community and their culture, related to their environments in which they operate. I will demonstrate and link how the commercially independent people of beekeeping, and their activities, work with the environment through a series of photographs, and a zine. The images will be created alongside questions to add context and narrative to the beekeepers’ unique process and stories. I want to showcase New Zealand’s unique beekeeping communities and the environments that they work within. If you are interested in my full proposal of the project, you can download and view the Word Doc. here.

I aim to answer my questions visually using 6×6 medium format cameras, as well as recording the subjects answers to a series of questions over here. These recordings will be translated into text to accompany the images and provide cohesion between the two. Yesterday I captured my first set of images out near Mount Oxford, just minutes from the carpark. Initial imagery will consist of visits to locations ahead of portraits. This set reflects that initial exploration. Each week I’ll me making images, and as a class we will talk about our process, progress, project goals, and also print work and share in the physical world. Black and white were captured on Rolleicord VB and Ilford Hp5, the colour set on Yashica635 and Kodak Portra.

Thoughts? My light metering has to be better. Using a phone app in simple scenes works well, but with multiple tones it can be tricky even though I meter for shadows. Next shoot I’ll meter the same but rate film at ISO 200 instead of 400. If this fails, I’ll buy a proper light meter, as life is to short messing up the stunning dynamic range that film offers due to skimping on metering. I’m shooting critical images on a tripod now too with cable release on the Rolleicord, and I actually like the process more with this setup as it slows me down even more. After comparing the colour to B&W frames captured, I’m positive that the majority of images for this project will be on HP5, with a couple of reference images on colour. I just adore the aesthetic of monochrome for most of my work, and this project won’t be any different. I enjoy working with the tonal range found in black and white prints, that I’m always drawn towards.

I had an issue on the second roll of HP5 too. As I opened the camera I was greeted with the roll loose as anything and un rolling itself! This was a first for me in hundreds of rolls shot. Sadly I did loose the last image which of course was my favourite, but easily captured again. Thankfully the rest were ok, and I think I know what happened. In the Rollei, it does not like to be wound multiple times at the end of the roll. Note to self…. don’t do that again!

I’ve now started. This is the hardest part of any project and I’m full of joy, fear and trepidation as I move towards the most important series of images that i’ve captured to date. Wish me luck!

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