Whitebait on Worcester

‘Whitebaiters Never Lie’ is a fantastic Christchurch Arts Festival exhibition with a difference. It has taken 118 images from the book of the same name (also launched at the festival) by Murray Hedwig and Anita Peters, blown them up to billboard size and displayed them along the entire length of Worcester Boulevard from Cathedral Square to the Canterbury Museum. Hedwig’s photographs are stunning and there’s something surreal and intriguing about seeing them made giant and displayed within a busy cityscape.

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr It took Hedwig and Peters three years to produce their book – visiting popular whitebaiting sites throughout New Zealand to photograph, interview and document the activities of many of the ‘older characters’ still fishing using tried-and-true methods. I for one am delighted they did so. I’ve interviewed a few old whitebaiters myself and the stories they tell are fascinating. This is one book I’ll be lining up. In terms of the exhibition itself, I’ve wandered along Worcester Boulevard several times now, always admiring the photographs and always fascinated to see how the public in general interacts with art in public spaces. This is definitely one show that is drawing people in and I’ve watched numerous visitors taking photographs of each other in front of the whitebaiters. www.artsfestival.co.nz

Part of the Crowd

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

I hope you'll all forgive me for hitting you with so many out-of-focus photos over the past few days. Truth is, photographs like this one appeal to me - obviously not for their technical finesse but rather for their crazy interplay of colour, pattern and mood. To me, they're not so different from a painting, albeit an accidental one; and I'm not a stickler for photographic perfection if an image captures my imagination and holds me for other (accidental) reasons. I took this photograph at the opening of the Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden 2009 in Cathedral Square on Thursday night. www.artsfestival.co.nz

On Thin Ice

Christchurch. July 2009 Ajr

The TV1 Ice Dome, erected in Christchurch’s Cathedral Square as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden 2009, contains a temporary ice rink, which opened on Friday afternoon. The 30-metre diameter dome was bought by the Christchurch City Council for $480,000 and was first used during the Ellerslie International Flower Show in Hagley Park back in March. I love its shiny, translucent skin and while it’s rather hard to photograph well from the outside, I did manage to get a few shots of the first skaters on the rink at a function there last night. What I like best is the beautiful 40-minute projection called ‘Lumiere,’ which runs continually from 6pm onward. It was compiled by the Auckland team, Spyglass, who created the projections for the giant rugby ball at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and it features nine different landscape images by Christchurch photographer, John Maylard…with a two minute snowstorm between each sequence. You'll find some exterior views of the dome by night below. www.artsfestival.co.nz

The Dome by Night - Three Views

One Dome

Three Views

Cathedral Square, Christchurch Christhcurch Arts Festival TV1 Ice Dome. July 2009. Ajr www.artsfestival.co.nz

Bent out of Shape

Christchurch July 2009. Ajr

These two surreal little photos capture the mood of what was a very surreal little performance by the very bendy twins - The Twisty Twins - Jola and Nele Siezen, who were the opening act at the launch of the Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden 2009, in Cathedral Square last night. The identical twins - like a mirror image - are members of the Loons Circus Theatre Company's 'Happy Home Road' production, which shows at the James Hay Theatre in early August. In the meantime, they were showstealers on festival opening night.

The Arts Festival Opens

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

I went along to Cathedral Square for the opening of the Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden 2009 last night. It was all bright lights, photographers, television crews, laughing crowds, song and dance - just the way to kick off a brilliant festival programme in the middle of a freezing winter. This shot shows the Christchurch Anglican Cathdral glowing in the dark. If you'd like to see photographs of the opening Maori performance by Ngai Tahu's Tuahiwi Kapa Haka group, click on the black and white carving at the top right of this home page and you'll be delivered straight there. I'll be featuring dozens more festival photographs in the coming weeks, so if you're interested in what's happening in Christchurch, stay tuned. www.artsfestival.co.nz

At Home in the Dome

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

The Arts Festival Ice Dome is up and I'm pleased to say it's going to be my new photographic plaything for the duration of its life in Cathedral Square. The ice skating rink inside it isn't completed yet but I'm going to the opening of that on Friday 24th July, so will have separate photos then. In the meantime, consider this the first of many of the exterior. I love the slightly alien feel it has, wedged among seventies highrise and classic Victorian architectural icons, with all the modern-day busyness rustling around its 'feet.' The 30-metre dome has been erected on a sand base and its beautiful, satiny, transluscent skin will allow spectactors outside see the shadowy forms of up to 150 skaters performing inside. Can't wait.

The Chilly South

Image Courtesy Christchurch City Council It's so cold down here in Christchurch that we've grown a giant igloo in the middle of Cathedral Square! I jest of course, this is an 'artist's rendition' of what the TV One Ice Dome is going to look like. Created as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival, the some will enclose a temporary ice rink. I was in Cathedral Square this morning actually and they're in the process of building it. It's got a long way to go before it looks like this image but with the opening on July 24th not far off, I'm sure it will all come to fruition. www.artsfestival.co.nz