ARTIST PAUL PETCH

Foothills Honey Hives.

I spent half the day with Laura from Foothills Honey and we visited several hive locations towards the hills of the Southern Alps, and the light was pretty good. I know I talk about light a fair amount, but when it’s diffused behind clouds or within the last hour of the day it’s mostly nice and even, flat and the subjects don’t have to squint. I met more Beekeepers from the crew at Foothills, that’s about 20 in the peak of the season, and again I was fascinated with their process and hard work. Beekeeping is simply a physical job with no short cuts to the results. Laura spoke about the colonies being pretty strong this year, and the yield this season may well be a good one. We spent a fair amount of time in the ute between locations, and most of what we spoke about is not really beekeeping related at all. It was simply a great chat with a like minded soul that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I cherish more and more during these strange times, where I see a lot of division over popular culture heading onto 2022. One things for sure though, I’m now shooting less rolls, as I’m becoming quite selective towards the types of photos I’m looking for. I’m ticking off ‘portraits where I can see the face’ – ‘portraits in hive suit’ – ‘flora’ – ‘landscapes with hives’.

On the weekend, I also visited a ‘hive day’ for the Christchurch Beekeeping Club and the turn out was fantastic! There must have been 60 + people of all ages, and apparently this was a small turnout! I’m also going to visit the North Canterbury Beekeeping Club next weekend where I expect I’ll get to see more presentations from experienced beekeepers, and experience a great feeling of community – just like on the weekend. I handed out a few fliers to interested people, but with the project spilling into 2022, I’m not really looking for more portraits right now, so keen to take it slow when it comes to mustering up subjects. The more time I spend with beekeepers, the more I feel like its a community that’s for me. I’ll have no worries setting up my first hive next Summer I’m sure with so many friendly people willing to help. I volunteered to help with an image bank for CBC moving forward too, so that will be fun, and the least I can do to give back to the community. It will all be digital of course.

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Southern Alps Honey.

I caught up with Ben and Leah, and some of their crew a few days ago from Southern Alps Honey. This husband and Wife team mostly work alone and manage more than 1000 active hives located in some beautiful locations from Rakaia Gorge to areas close to Mount Somers. On this day there were some staff helping out, and watching the bunch get into the zone and work through the hives was a fascinating experience for sure. It is a very physical and repetitive process, with hive boxes weighing in at 40 KG peak honey flow. The seasonal change is still a tad volatile so we were not able to get deeper into the mountains with recent floods, tree fall and boggy paddocks and trails. Their 4WD actually got stuck on the way to meet with me and they had to be pulled out by the generous farmer. I could not help as my Toyota van is rear wheel drive and gets stuck on wet grass, never mind mud! The two locations we visited were still stunning and set against gorse (or Ulex Europaeus) and beech trees, that both provide resources for the honey bees. Gorse is actually a weed introduced by settlers that seems to thrive in the harsh conditions of the South Island, but has become a vital part of the honey bees life as its bright yellow flowers flourish nearly all year round. Beech trees are native and offer honey dew, a sugary bi product of the Beech Scale Insect, that honey bees adore.

Leah and Ben lived in Australia for sometime where Leah worked as a nurse, and Ben a helicopter pilot. After returning to New Zealand they built the business from scratch over a 7 year period to where is is now and a full-time commercial operation. Both are really knowledgable and passionate about their beekeeping, and I learnt an absolute heap about what it takes to operate commercially, to understanding stages of the colonies process through the seasons. Due to the colonies struggling with the crazy weather patterns in the region, Ben and the crew were adding litres of sugar syrup to purpose made ‘feeding trays’ within the hives to provide food and a boost to increase the numbers in the struggling colonies. A first in many years by all accounts. See the high tank on the back of the truck with what looks like a fuel pump? That’s the sugar syrup dispenser. This procedure is all about timing, as levels of syrup, (known as C4) if found in the final product is an issue as it’s not classed as natural NZ honey. Another discussion surrounded relatively new legislation governing what constitutes Manuka honey now, and how it has impacted the industry immensely. It’s not the first time that I’ve heard about it either whereby during the introduction of the legislation, honey stockpiled for 2 years unable to be sold, while they worked through the new guidelines. Sadly, industry wide this caused the cost per kilo of honey to drop from $14 to sometimes as little as $2. Add covid supply chain issues, and the largest export market, China dictating the pricing too, it’s a tough business now to make a living. I also asked if Ben had noticed any decline in the bee colonies over the years, and the answer was that global warming and the erratic weather has been the biggest contributor to their hive decline, and the relentless need to re-build colonies.

Then disease such as Varroa Mites and American Foulbrood also play a role in the bees decline, and can strike at any time.  New Zealand apparently has very strict policies when it comes to hives infested with disease, and often the sick colonies get burnt- hive and all. Interestingly, other countries such as the USA treat colonies with antibiotics instead. Yuck! Overall, Ben informed me that New Zealand honey bees are sort after globally due to good genetics, and their ability to great honey producing colonies, and compared to the USA and other countries, our honey is still relatively free of pesticides too, that globally is now the largest killer of bees. Sadly, disease and pesticides (amongst other factors) result in a phenomena called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which is a major issue for bees moving forward. I found this essay from https://www.evergreen.edu by Bryanne McNamar that explains CCD really well.

Southern Alps Honey’s hives are located quite far from the Canterbury Plains too, that see a lot of pesticide spraying, so their honey is naturally low in pesticides too. I’ve been fortunate to taste a lot of raw bee honey comb since I started this project (my favourite) and Southern Alps Honey has been the richest, darkest, and most intense flavoured to date! So good.

Due to restrictions getting to the more scenic locations and the light just being horrid, I’ll have to revisit Southern Alps Honey again over the Summer to capture the hives and operations against the mountains. That’s all good though, as this project has only really started after 4 months, and like beekeeping itself, the photographic process can’t be rushed or forced. Mother Nature dictates both outcomes. One pleasing outcome of working on more hives now – is that the images are showcasing just how many bees are present at these sites, and it’s still early in the season! I can only imagine the experience of standing in the middle of hives stacked 7 high multiples by 10- 20! I’m now wearing a suit by the way after being stung on the face, and it’s a much much better experience all round. A necessity really. There is better safety of course, but it also allows me to navigate and capture more angles, and the process. It’s utterly mesmerising being amongst so many bees!

Whats coming up next? I’ve been working though a list of images I feel will work well and compliment the series. This list mostly includes the flora that the honey bees love, and others are more still life and the equipment. I was stoked to finally capture the stunning yellow flowers of the Gorse, as well as the Beech trees that are so vital, to Southern Alps Honey’s hives, and South Island bee keepers in general. It’s great to tick off these types of images, as they do really compliment the portraiture and in situ hives. I’m trying my best to wind this project down for hand in by the 22nd November, but I’ve got some interesting leads at the last minute that I feel will add to the series. I’ve got some urban hives lined up in the city,  and I’m still chasing a location with a mountain view too! I’ve also been passionately looking for a Maori beekeeper portrait, and I’m very excited to finally have one lined up, after looking since the project started 4 months ago. I’m also starting to write the ‘essay’ to accompany the imagery in the book, and have plans to head off in my camper-van and chill in the back to write it. I feel this is the only way it will get done with too many distractions at home. Wish me luck! One other worry is that I’m running out of Kodak Portra coloured film, and with the prices increasing by 20% (that’s 50% in the past 2 years) It’s a bit of a rush to get a good stash purchased and put in the fridge, to safe guard shooting not just in the coming months, but also next year. Thankfully black and white Ilford HP5 is still affordable. Worst case, that will be the film of choice, because I’m not going to abandon this process! Finally, this set I feel represents the working hive  best to date, as I’m getting to know the ‘work place’ and commercial routine of beekeepers better. All of which would not be possible without the generosity of the people I’m spending time with.  Thank you for your time and passing on your knowledge to me.

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Some Updates – Beekeeping Project .

I had a catchup with Wendy, one of my tutors for ARA yesterday and we went through some concerns I have with regards to the project. Initially I had none as such, but I guess some of the admin work is becoming problematic. I’ve been using Capsule CRM for managing the people involved with the project and its has been a life saver to be honest. So so good. The issue I was discussing surrounded getting model release in the least annoying way. I started the day Googling for a model release plugin to simply install here on my WordPress site, and was stunned to find NONE! What I did find were multiple plugins that allow you to create embedded forms- and with some custom tweaks, including digital signature add ons- you ended up with a link you can send to people and they fill it out.

The trouble is that these ‘website form’ solutions are either $200 + per year (yes that’s not a typo) or the cheaper ones have terrible design and usability. This matters to me. I spent the whole morning into lunchtime looking for a solution where I could send a link to the subjects- and they take seconds filling it out- and then it gets sent to me as a PDF. In the end I opted to design my own model release as a PDF that’s stripped right back, and very clear with regards to what I’ll use the images for. I then hooked it up with an online service PDFfiller, that allows me to add interactive test input boxes, and a digital signature to sign it off. The only downside is that its an expensive service upto $40 per month. The good side is that the first month is free and only charges you if you continue past the first month.

I’ve spent two full days this week working out a method to release images simply, as well as personalising emails to invite each beekeeper to free up the images to use. Some would prefer a visit with paperwork I’m sure, so I’m catering to that too. The goal of this final project is to prove that I’ve done 450 hours of work, and trust me, that ain’t going to be a problem! I’ve been busy on this project from week one, and blogged about every portrait or hive visit. I’ve decided to made it into a A4 PDF book for submission, but also a perfect bound book that I will submit as part of hand in too. Physical is just better and I’m going to make a book like this for every major project moving forward for my own reference. FYI I’m using Angus Donaldson for my printing needs here in Christchurch, based on such great results on the They Are us zine.  that they printed. In fact, with this, and a project surrounding lockdown that will be made into a book, plus the beekeeping book design for hand in, I’m spending a fair amount of time designing at the moment. I was a freelance graphic designer from 2001 – 2008 and book design has always been my favourite process, and in 2021 I’m using the fantastic Affinity Publisher software rather than being held at ransom by Adobe. Honestly, I actually prefer it to Indesign! It’s brilliant to use.

I have a couple of weeks to put it all together now, and I started the beekeeping book design today. Instantly I was faced with the reality that in an ideal world I would love to have the more personal portraits of Beekeepers suit-less juxtaposed to them suited up. But due to the seasonal reality of beekeeping, and time frame for hand-in, that is not likely to happen now, but definitely over the period of the next year. Beekeepers are very busy now too and up early- finishing late- and I don’t want to get in the way this side of the year. In one way it’s great to see the layout speak to me this way as I’m adding images to pages, but it also means I have to work a formula for the book based on the series of images I do have, that are mixed portraits and working at hives. Thankfully I have time. Thankfully I understand this part of the process.

I’ve been getting more and more into art books this year and recenlty of note is a book by Anne Noble “ConversātiōIn the company of bees”. It looks at the astounding practice of leading photographer Anne Noble, set against the issues of ecosystem collapse and climate change and examining what an artist can do in response. Its creative focus is on that most important insect, the European bee. Reminiscent of an artist book in its extensive visual content, its appeal is to a wide readership curious about art, ecology, science, literature and their intersections. It is not just a beautifully designed book, it also speaks to me! I’m feeling very similar to Anne, in that I’m falling for the bees, and their wonderful place within our environment. Simply watching their behaviour and colonies develop is so compelling. I’m positive next year that I’ll set up a hive so that I can spend more time observing bees and making more art surrounding them vs the keepers. I guess that’s what this book has highlighted to me that my work is ongoing and surrounds the people of beekeeping in Canterbury, rather than the bees themselves, and that’s OK. Yet, if I start Masters next year, It’s likely that I’ll continue with the focus on with bees and environment-and that in-between art and science place. I’m now inspired to add some close up abstract imagery into this current body of work. I’ve applied for some funding to continue Masters into 2022- so fingers crossed. The image below by the way is of Lisa, a student being taught by the wonderful Kevin Gate on 35mm that is not my preferred format- but it surprised me. I’ve also attached some images from Anne’s wonderful publication.

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Students and Hives.

Once again the ever so helpful Kevin arranged a hive visit yesterday, and I got to meet 2 student beekeepers Lisa and Tegan (who Kevin is teaching), and a Alison who recently completed the beekeeping course at Otago Polytechnic last year and owns the hives that sat against a beautiful line pine trees amongst beautifully long green grass. I could not help but notice that her eye was super swollen, and apparently the day before while working on ‘hive 5’ a bee got into her suit and went for her eyes. OUCH! What a portrait it made though. It might be one of my all time favourites! I got the Yashica 635 out for the first time in a while too and captured a few rolls of HP5 alongside Portra 400 on the Yashica D. I’ve not shot to much black and white over the past months as I’ve honestly fallen for colour throughout this beekeeping project to date. As for the black and white results from these rolls, I absolutely love them. It’s quite clear that Ilford HP5 manages the hot highlights of the day better than Portra, and even when its exposed a stop over. I never thought the ‘in action’ hive imagery would look so good in monochrome to be honest, but I guess it de-clutters the scene from multiple random colours and clipped highlights to simply tones.

At one point, it felt like I was witnessing a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey as they all worked together slowly to not stress the bees, and looking like astronauts repairing vital machinery in space. HAHA. The white suits do make beekeepers look like astronauts though, and look so good too against the dark trees and grass. Let’s talk about Portra 400. After hundreds of rolls, I’ve got to admit that in my opinion, is a tad overrated. During the bright light of the day it struggles so hard, and seems to be so contrasty these days. I’m not doing anything different during exposure or development, and I’m finding that I have to de-saturate Portra 400 upto -25 in Lightroom and drop contrast too. It’s like the film is now more like Ektar in some way and way over saturated. Maybe when I shift to Portra 160 for the brighter parts of the day, (still waiting more than 7 weeks from Walkens who have limited 5 rolls per customer now) it might clean up the images? Don’t get me wrong, when it all comes together with Portra the results are absolutely amazing, but it does require so much post processing. Way more than digital if I was honest. But at the end of the day, what other colour film do we have to choose from now with the demise of Fujifilm400? Maybe I’m trying to get the Fujifilm400 aesthetic? Compare these images below with that of the last hive shoot– and you will see the difference in saturation and contrast.

Talking of mood, working with Kevin who is full of care and compassion for the bees and people he spends time with is a privilege. He’s such a great guy and with an illness slowly decreasing his ability to do what he loves, it’s such a privilege to be part of his story these days. I can’t wait to gift him a book and a framed print as a huge thank you. He is so chilled out and at peace with these beautiful creatures it’s fascinating.  Honestly, most people that I’ve worked with on this project have been so nice, grounded and present- it’s really uplifting for ones spirit. I really appreciate their time. I opted to go suit-less yesterday again, as to date it has worked well for me, but I noticed something interesting yesterday as they opened up ‘hive 5’. The behaviour of the bees changed from slowly ‘chilling’ outside the hive in a ball like shape to the bees flying faster and from what seemed side to side metres from the hive. They also seemed to swarm around the upper body of the beekeepers.

I took notice of this change of behaviour and stepped back well away from the hives, and I guess in this moment I started to display fear. I then noticed what seemed to be bees flying into me- but put it down to the strong-wish winds on location. I moved further away and was happy to wait until the hive was closed and the final group photo. I then felt a bee buzzing close to my face and Instinctively I panicked and started to try and swipe it away. It got pissed off real quick and then stung me just above my left eye. It’s the first bee sting I’ve had and boy did it hurt! The crew helped remove the sting ‘barb’ and put some cream on it. Thankfully after 30 minutes I had not swollen up or faced breathing difficulties, so I’m not allergic to bee stings, but 24 hours later its pretty puffy, hot and not looking to good. The student told me that during the course they learnt that bees will go for the eyes when they attack due to them glistening. The best thing to do is not panic, but hunch over looking at the ground, or roll in the grass apparently. The flying into me was actually a warning the bees display, and it’s a gentle ‘head but’ to warn you off. Apparently, bees are also attracted more to dark colours and yesterday I was in black with a black face mask. After some reflection on just how much the bee sting hurt, and their fascination with our eyes, I’ll be wearing  at least a face vail on location with hives moving forward, as some colonies are just simply aggressive in nature and I can only imagine the results of a swarm attacking. Actually, I can. It would be life threatening! Lesson learnt I guess.

What next? Hopefully the recent news of COVID spreading back to Christchurch does not cause to many problems moving forward over the next 4 weeks. I’ve got more hive locations in mind and next week some spotted around the stunning Southern Alps. Fingers crossed! I feel that after this coming week and the range of hive images I’ve already got, it’s time to call it a day for this project at ARA. That means I have about 3 weeks to put it all together and tidy up loose ends, that ultimatley means I’m not going to be rushing. The tasks ahead include, conceptualising the book design for hand in, the accompanying prints, and the curation for exhibiting (dependent on COVID). I’m also going to have to sort out model release of the images, and what words will compliment the images, if any. I also foresee as I move into the final weeks, and past the academic hand in of this project in a few weeks, and independently working on this project and a book for 2022, I’ll be using less colour film overall. When I say less, I mean applying a conscious effort to shoot less colour and be super selective to what scenes command colour, simply due to the rising costs of Kodak Portra film (apparently 20% more in 2022!). I could for example spread a single roll over 4 portraits, with 4 frames each and utilise black and white more as its far more cost effective. Totally achievable. In other news, I’ve also applied for a scholarship to move into Masters of Creative Practice at ARA in 2022, and I may well continue onwards with another body of work surrounding bees. Fingers crossed.

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Hive Photography Begins.

Things have started to move into another gear as I head towards end of term and the completion of my 4 year of studies. With the beekeeping season only now really starting to push forward to honey production, I’ve spent the last week organising shoots on location at hives to complement the portrature captured over the past months. Previous images were predominantly beekeepers at home, suit-less and no hives in sight,  but now I want to create a series of images of subjects at the hives working on them. With only 4 weeks left of term, this set of images are vital to being the series together, and I’m feeling a bit anxious to be honest with what looks like a lot of image making left to do. I’m confident it will all come together though!

Anyway, hobbyist Kevin, who I’ve spent time with previously at his home, was kind enough to show me some of his hives on the weekend and I was a bit rusty to be honest! It had been at least 4 weeks since I last captured a beekeeper, and it took a while to get my head back in the game. I shot one roll of 120 Portra 400 and 80% were under exposed for my liking. Fortunately the 2 images that were keepers were exposed well, but I must get a dedicated light meter, as using an app is so hit and miss (you’ve heard this many times before!). I also shot a roll of 35mm Portra 160 and yet to develop it, and what I’m hoping for with the 35mm camera, are some close ups of the trays and colonies etc, to accompany the more staged images. I’m using a Canon 620 body from the 1980’s and modern EOS lenses, and in particular the 70- 200mm 2.8. I may also borrow a macro lens from school for some super close ups. On reflection of 120 hive images caught this weekend that do a great job of sharing work on the hives, I might not even include any 35mm images. Let’s see.

The following day Kevin invited me to more hives that him and Lorraine take care of. Both were so kind to show me the inner workings of a hive and what stage the season is currently at. As we head into the warmer months and optimal honey production, queen bees need to be placed into hives, along with checking for parasites and disease. These guys also had ‘pollen patties’ yesterday too, for hives that needed a boost to get the colony going. Fascinating stuff. I’m loving being out on location with generous beekeepers, and hope to be heading to the Alps in the coming weeks with a commercial venture.

My biggest gripe currently though is the time of day that these next series of images have to be captured- during the middle of the day. Hives are not opened below 10 degrees as the cold is bad for the colonies, hence midday workings. Unfortunately this means that it is the harshest light of the day and I’m pretty obsessive about shooting in the best, even lighting conditions. Yesterday for example was mixed harsh light due to the tree cover- and after 2 rolls-  I literally got a 5 minute window at the end where the burning sun went behind some clouds that provided the light I was after. Saying that, overall the collection is good. Maybe this light actually adds something to the set as a whole? Maybe I’m being to much of a perfectionist? Maybe I don’t like change? Maybe I’m being averse to the extra work involved managing difficult light? Regardless it sure does add another layer of fucks to the process. HAHA.. breathe.

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Bealey Spur Track.

On the weekend I headed out to Arthurs Pass to ground myself amongst some giants on the Bealey Spur Track. The last time that I did this track was in maybe 2012. The trail is rated as difficult, and was rooty, steep and greasy as it passed through beautiful and majestic forest, swamp and barren loose rocky ridges. The trail finishes at the Bealey Hut that was built in 1935 and sleeps 6 if that’s your thing. Last visit was during a snowy Winter, and I feel that this Winter I’ll visit again and meditate with the huge fire place that’s the highlight of this historical hut. I chatted with trampers on route, felt the warmth of the Springtime shift and got a good dose of Vitamin D. It felt fantastic to bag some peaks too.

I ended up walking past the hut though some very boggy ground, and up to a stunning ridge line surrounded by snowy peaks and valleys. At 1545M and 5pm I decided to head back and not get caught in the dark. A good move too, as the decent on 3 hour climbing legs was challenging and on the steep, rocky and Rooty trail, that took a further 2 hours to get back to my van. I made a good call on this tramp too, by taking my poles, that helped both up and down. I could have done with more food though as it ran out by the time I got to the high point. These images capture the scale of the wonder, as well as the topography of this region as part of a wider project spanning 2021/ 2022. I’m loving shooting more black and white again too.

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