The Business of Bracing

I went biking in Horseshoe Lake Reserve last weekend, in the northeastern suburbs of Christchurch. With no particular destination in mind, I found myself on a bush track running along one side of the lake and I was amazed at the amount of damage wrought by the September 4th earthquake. Boardwalks had come away from their bearings and the track was pitted, cracked and flooded in a number of places. I met a man along the way, tidying up fallen branches. He told me he was an 'unofficial caretaker' in the reserve and that on the morning of the earthquake, he had found fish washed up on the bush track, several feet away from the lake. Certainly, when you see the huge cracks in the reserve car park (above), it's not hard to imagine how the lake must have sent a huge wave of water into the surrounding landscape.

I've spent a lot of time walking around the city in recent days and even subtracting the massive amount of construction work taking place for the installation of the city's extended tram tracks, the whole place is like a construction site - or should that be a demolition site? It's both actually and bracing is definitely big business. From The Arts Centre (above) to Otautahi (below) and to dozens of suburban shops around the city (bottom), buildings have taken 'a new architecture' as teams of builders race to make everything secure.

I'm fascinated by the whole business - the cranes (of course), the scaffolding, the neat 'packaging' and 'bandaging' of buildings against further damage, the tidy little 'timber patches' holding historic stones in place. And all the while (in most cases), life goes on as normal below. There are the sad losses - Manchester Courts (now being demolished) and the possible demolition of St Elmos Court - but for the most part, the historic beauties of the city will be salavagable. Some judicious bracing here, some clever patch work there and the city will be stitched together again. It's been a fraught, wobbly two months since September 4th and with more than 2,400 after-shocks to keep us on our toes, there are plenty of people still reeling. But it's also an exciting time - a time filled with opportunity and promise as the damaged buildings are repaired and the irretrievable are taken down to make way for the new. It would be very easy to feel despondent about pending architectural argument and diabolical architectural outcomes but for now I'm hoping for the best.

An Earthquake Demolition Photo Parade

This morning I went into the city to check on restaurants - those still standing, those likely to be out of business, as I launch into the Christchurch restaurant chapter of the travel guide I am currently writing (Frommers New Zealand Day by Day 1st Edition). I found a strange, haunting beauty in unexpected places as demolition crews continue to work through the weekend. People gathered on corners chatting to soldiers and police; others stood in awe as huge mechanical teeth chewed their way through the tattered shreds of city buildings; still more came to take photographs. People of all nationalities - tourists many of them - finding 'new attractions' in places they would never even considered as they stamped their passports and boarded a plane for Christchurch. For me, the 'little beauties' came with jarring reminders that we, the humans of this place, are mere 'specks of dust.' We and all our fripperies, can be disposed of in a few seconds of angry, unpredictable upheaval. So many things, like this lone chair, a statement of vulnerability and pointless excess all at once. A touching reminder too, that although no lives were lost in the physical sense, many have been torn asunder at an economic and emotional level. It is a surreal experience to drive through your city and find the streets filled with shipping containers; lanes closed, red and orange 'disaster' tapes coming loose and floating across the roads and footpaths; piles of torn bricks piled neatly on sidewalks - and some not so neatly.

I have always found a strange and compelling beauty in machinery and building sites - anyone visiting this blog regularly will know my odd compulsion to photograph cranes; but today it was a photographic exercise laced with introspection and a reflective questioning of values, life, tragedy and people's ability to sustain blow after blow and simply keep on. As you can see from these images, it's a moving business - in every sense of the word.

Looking Up.

Half the fun of any city is way above street level, yet how many people ever take the time to look up?

I like nothing better than stopping in the middle of a city street and looking up. Not only do I see many wonderful architectural details - and cranes - that I would otherwise miss, but I also seem to trigger everyone else's interest. Human curiosity. people can't seem to help themselves. They want to know what you're looking at. Try it sometime. Beyond the silliness though, looking up is also about unexpected compositions, about the juxtaposition of shapes, colours, textures, angles; about the interplay of positive and negative spaces. And here in Auckland I'm in heaven. There is a massive amount of development happening along the waterfront area (not all pretty it must be said); and being surrounded by highrise in the inner city, I'm having a field day with my camera. These shots were taken down at Britomart.

Capital Cranes

Show me a crane and I'll show you a good time - or words to that effect. This to convey my delight in cranes I hasten to add, not to extend an unlikely invitation to the online universe. If you'd told me a few years ago that I would end up with a passion for photographing construction cranes, I would have laughed at you. But somehow it's happened. I suppose it's related to my enjoyment of photographing sculpture - for they are related....in my eyes at least. I could spend hours at a construction site with my camera - if I was allowed. I've never asked mind you - rather I take my chances on the street when they avail themselves. As here, in Willis Street, Wellington.....this crane hard at work, photographed from the slither of Chews Lane. If you're interested in my other construction photos, just click on Cranes in the labvel line below this post. There's a few there.

Up With the Birds

I was out photographing yesterday and just happened to arrive at City Mall at precisely the right moment as Christchurch sculptor, Neil Dawson and a team of orange-jacketed, hard-hatted workers were raising Neil's latest public sculpture, Sky Lens above the mall.

Cranes and sculpture coming together in one happy event and intricate patterns etched against the grey, broody sky - I couldn't have been happier.

That's Neil (above) taking time out for a quick chat.

The $140,000 laser-cut, aluminium work measures six metres across and weighs in at 160kg. Unfortunately for Neil and his installation team, the notorious Canterbury nor'west wind was gusting through the mall but they took the conditions in their stride and everything appeared to go to plan.

The sculpture features 'a series of interlocking paper darts' and has evolved out of a series of small domed wall works that Dawson exhibited around five years ago. "It usually takes about five years for the interior works to make it outside," he says, pausing to shout instructions to the crane driver. Despite an outwardly calm facade and regular chats with passersby, Neil says the installation of his giant works is by far the most stressful part of the process. This in fact, was the second attempt to get the work installed above the revamped City Mall.

I sat and watched proceedings for quite some time and was greatly amused by the conversations going on around me. A surprising number of people seemed to think it was a giant Christmas decoration being put in place for the festive season. When I mentioned that to Neil he just sighed. "Oh we've had it all," he laughed. "The guy from a nearby Chinese takeaway place came out and said he was going to call it The Leaky Wok; and someone else told me it looked like a giant IUD." For my part, I think it's great and I look forward to seeing it at night with the coloured spotlights illuminating the intricate matrix of shapes. I think it's a perfect companion for Neil's Chalice, just a street away in Cathedral Square. If you click on Neil's name in the label line below, you'll see other Dawson sculptures around New Zealand that I've written about previously.

A Pause for Reflection

I can never go past a good reflection - nor a good crane for that matter. So when the two are combined a photo is inevitable. I had a great time in Auckland in April snapping these images. The top one is a reflection of an apartment block on office windows in Greyts Avenue; the bottome two? Can't be sure but I think I may have taken them on the Auckland Art Gallery construction site.

Cranes and Construction

Christchurch. October 2009. Ajr

When most of my female friends wander around the city, they focus on handbags and shoes and fashion boutiques. For some very odd reason, I prefer to wander with my camera, focussing on very unfeminine things - like cranes and classic cars and construction sites. Sometimes I wonder if I suffered a bang on the head as a child - or have my feminine genes been beaten into submission or something? Don't get me wrong - I still like the pretty stuff too but no handbag on earth could make me feel as pleased and thrilled as this crane photo did today. Is that cause for me to worry? For a long time I thought I might be the only person on earth who loved photographing cranes - until I came upon a young English guy one day, photographing the very same crane as me. I had to ask and yes, it turned out he was as fixated as I tend to be. But you'd expect that of a bloke I guess. Oh well...I never claimed to be a conformist and as one male friend likes to quip, I am a cheap date (though it should be noted that he's never had to pay my shoe bill and had he been with me when I went out for coffee last week and came home with $500 worth of new shoes, he may have reconsidered). PS. The recently completed building on the left is the South Island's first Green office block; and the building under construction behind it is the new Christchurch City Council chambers - in what was the old Ngai Tahu-owned Chief Post Office building. Suffice to say it's getting an extensive makeover.

Turning Construction on its Head

I've photographed more cranes than I care to admit to. It's a weakness. I love their towering forms etched against the sky. Come to that, I love everything they stand for - building, architecture, development, future, progress...... I was admiring glassware in Form at Christchurch Art Gallery last weekend, when I happened to catch a glimpse of this crane across the street on the council construction site - reflected in the glass exhibition shelf. Far too interesting to pass up.

Dressed in Red

Wellington. April 2009. Ajr

Call me easily pleased - or just plain crazy - but I'm never happier than when there's a crane on a busy city skyline. It was an ecstatic moment in Wellington therefore, when I snapped three all hovering over the same red-wrapped building. Simple pleasures! Can't beat them.

Something Suitably Sunday-ish

Christchurch Cathedral. Feb 2009. Ajr

I couldn't resist a shot of all these verticals and horizontals around the spire of Christchurch Cathedral. There's lots of inner city crane activity at the moment so I'm happier than a pig in mud. www.christchurchcathedral.co.nz

Accidental Art

Christchurch. Dec. 2008. Ajr

I'm a little puzzled by my own (photographic) fixation with cranes - can't explain it - not even going to try. Suffice to say I LOVED this little scene discovered down a Christchurch backstreet in a semi-industrial area. The combination of graffiti with the sculptural forms and colours of the cranes had me shrieking with delight.

Flying Our Flag

Over Riccarton

Another seriously good crane moment

Dec.2008. Ajr

Craning My Neck

Construction Site, Christchurch. Dec. 2008. Ajr

Surely I can't be the only person who finds an unexpected beauty in construction sites! I took these shots this afternoon - on a perfect-blue Canterbury summer day - of what I think is a perfect abstract composition of beams, crane parts and street lamps. It goes without saying that I got carried away with the joys of my new camera (my Christmas gift to myself just yesterday) and took at least forty shots of this particular crane - much to the amusement of the construction workers, who started hollering at me.

This is Not an Artwork...........

Inner City Christchurch. Oct 2008. Ajr

.............But slip it into the SCAPE 2008 Biennial Catalogue and by golly, it just about could be!

www.scapebiennial.org.nz

The Spaces Between - 15

Christchurch . Sept.2008. Ajr

It's been a while since I brought you one of my Spaces Between series - so here's one I snapped yesterday looking west from Manchester Street. It has the bonus of including one of my other favourite things: cranes. Click on Spaces Between in the below label line if you want to see other architectural spaces in this series.

Floating Your Boat

"See Change" James Oram. September 2008. Ajr

Now this is one SCAPE 2008 work that I LOVE!!!

And this one WAS almost a poetic experience.

Christchurch-based James Oram has sent this life-sized boat 'sky-high.'

It's totally unexpected; it defies all our expectations of what we ought to see on the skyline; and it speaks somehow to ambitious dreams and fantastic childhood imaginings. Factor in a crane and I'm won over! I think it's my favourite Scape work - for others works I've photographed so far, click on 'Scape Biennial' in the below tag line. www.scapebiennial.org.nz

A Crane and a Cross

Cathedral Square, Christchurch. Sept.2008. Ajr

If you click on the word 'Cranes' in the tag line below

You'll see I have a bit of a thing for cranes.

I can't explain it. I'm not, after all, a technical/mechanical girl.

I think it's more to do with their visual impact in an empty sky.

In this case, it's about the juxtaposition of mechanics and religion.

And how busy are we here in Christchurch - we have three cranes working in the city at once!

Da Vinci's Machines

Christchurch. Sept.2008. Ajr

I love this juxtaposition

Of posters and machines

Even better

It's just across the road from

Christchurch Art Gallery

Another Crane Fan

Christchurch Art Gallery. August 2008. Ajr

On a fabulously sunny

Canterbury spring day

I was thrilled to discover

That I'm not the only one

Keen on photographing cranes!

Craning My Neck - Again

Christchurch Cathedral Spire. August 2008. Ajr

A nice interplay

of old and new