City Scene - 2

The second shot in my new series of 'mismatched moments'.

Visual snapshots of New Zealand city life.

Wire rolls on the back of a truck in central Dunedin. May 2010. Ajr

A Nature Study

Seed Heads

Hagley Park

Christchurch

I photographed these plants a few weeks ago When they were in full flower But I like them better as spikey seed heads Covered in morning dew drops October 2010. Ajr

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 111

"An Attack on the Proposed Christchurch Music Conservatorium."

Prinkmaker Barry Cleavin considers proposed civic additions.

Underwater World

I don't know what it is, but there is just something about penguins that makes them universally appealing, no matter what age you are. I re-discovered that fact when I visited Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter & Underworld in Auckland again on my recent Frommer's New Zealand travel guide update.

Here, in sub-tropical Auckland, they have the only underground self sustaining population of king and gentoo penguins in the world. The making of over three tonnes of snow a day helps mimic the Antarctic weather conditions and with their 'home' temperature set at minus 1-deg Celsius, the colony of over 80 penguins seems more than happy - evidenced by the fact that they continue to feed and breed quite readily.

Always a huge hit with kids, the Snow Cat rides into the colony are well worth doing. You can't use your camera flash but if you're quick enough and your camera has the capacity, you can get some good shots (the two centre shots of penguins shown here were, incidentally, supplied by Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Centre). And as there are seven Snowcats operating, offering rides every thirty seconds, you can go around more than once. This gives you an even better chance to see the penguins going about their daily business. And all this aside from all the other underwater attractions - the sting rays, the colourful tropical fish, the kids' activities, the replica of Scott's Antarctic hut and numerous interactive activities that will keep kids amused for hours. www.kellytarltons.co.nz

City Scene - 1

I'm one of those odd people who photographs the world in assorted series.

But every so often there are shots that I take 'in the moment' because something about the scene has caught my eye. It may a marriage of colours or forms, or an unlikely juxtaposition. Invariably, I end up with a whole heap of photographs that I quite like but have no real use for. So bingo, what do I do? I create another series of course - a series of mismatched moments; in this case a series of 'disjointed' City Scene(s). So here is the first. A bright COKE truck pulled up under the Worcester Boulevard building that caught fire just after the big 7.1 September 4th earthquake in Christchurch.

StreetscapeNZ - 95

Madras Street

Christchurch - After the Earthquake

Sept.2010 Ajr

A Manawatu Sculpture Walk

I lived in and near Palmerston North in the Central North Island's Manawatu region in the late seventies but after I moved to the South Island in 1990, I've only ever been back there once. So when I rolled into town this year - in July - I was amazed by two very unexpected things - how much nostalgia I felt and that I actually got lost in now unfamiliar streets. I did however find what was the Manawatu Art Gallery in my day - now Te Manawa - Museum Gallery & Science Centre, which is currently undergoing a massive extension programme due for completion in late 2011. This is where I began a wander that tracked some of the city's public sculptures......the above unnamed, outside Te Manawa. Also outside Te Manawa, this - "Pacific Monarch" by Paul Dibble and commissioned by the Manawatu Art Gallery in 1992.

Further down the street, in the middle of a traffic island near the Palmerston North City Council building, I found this work - my favourite of the bunch - "The Returning Column" by South Australian sculptor, Greg Johns. Made of corten steel, the 5-metre high work, the work was acquired by the Palmerston North Public Sculpture Trust.

"United-Divided" by Christchurch sculptor, Phil Price is in the same vicinity and is the fourth work installed by the Palmerston North Sculpture Trust. It sits outside the Palmerston North Convention Centre and was unveiled in February 2010. Like its eerily similar Christchurch counterpart (in orange), the kinetic work rolls, dips, 'breaks apart' and rotates, "coming together and then dividing in a continuous, seemingly random, wind-driven performance." There's also a terrific work - "Numbers" by Anton Parsons and a beautiful wall work by Guy Ngan, neither of which I had time to photograph. All of the above, in addition to the striking collection of Maori sculptures in The Square, near the council buildings, are a very pleasing addition to the cityscape. While I found the remodelled square itself slightly 'communist' in feel, I always love it when a city installs contemporary public art for us all to muse over. It seems no two people can ever agree on their appropriateness, their beauty or their worth but that's half the fun of it. Good art should touch a few 'raw nerves.'

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 110

"We Cats Know What to do Between Shakes - Felis" Domestic Observations from a Top New Zealand printmaker. For more in this series, click on Cleavin in the label line below.

Taking a Punt.

The Antigua Boat Sheds are an iconic part of Christchurch's history. They've been part of the landscape for over 125 years and punting and canoe rides are as much a part of the city's activities today as they were then.

Things have changed a little admittedly. The ladies' waiting room and the gentlemen's dressing room of 1885 are no longer used as such for instance; and there's a cafe now; and the young men steering the punts are likely to be carrying cellphones.

The sheds were built in 1882 by two Lyttelton builders, Albert Shaw and J.T.Tidd. By 1887 that partnership had dissolved and a few years later, under the new ownership of Samuel Anstey of Fendalton, there were "70 well-built boats to choose from and a photographic room for the use of visitors." Dozens of Anstey's glass-plate negatives were later found in the attic above the Boat Sheds and are now safe and sound in Canterbury Public Library.

Although significantly damaged in a 1907 fire, the boat sheds survived and now, in 2010, both locals and visitors crowd in in the weekends for boating fun on the Avon River. There's a mix of punts, Canadian canoes, pedal boats and moulded plastic canoes. I often visit with my camera - seized I suppose, by some sense of romance that the boats, especially the punts, trigger in my imagination. I find them quite beautiful; and certainly, if you're looking for the quintessential 'English shot' of Christchurch, the boat sheds and all the activity that goes on there, deliver. I doubt there's a promotional piece of writing on Christchurch city anywhere, that doesn't feature a photograph of punters on the Avon. www.christchurchnz.com

Spring Green

When it's autumn, I say autumn is my favourite time of year, but then comes spring and I have to revise my preferences because there is something so fresh and crisp and full of promise about spring. Fat buds bursting into life on trees, new grass galloping to lush, verdant heights, blossoms.........all well-worn cliches but all speaking of a potential that I can't get enough of.

I took these shots recently on a drive out to Taitapu, just outside Christchurch. Always a sucker for trees in any shape or form, I find a recurring and resounding inspiration in orchards and vineyards. There's something about those soldier-like rows of trees that stirs me in ways I can't explain. So an orchard in the full blush of spring was always going to be a target for my camera. A place of beauty in a time of beauty.

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.

StreetscapeNZ - 94

Colombo Street, Sydenham

Christchurch - After the Earthquake

Sept.2010. Ajr

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 109

"A New Installation Piece Commissioned by the Earthquake & War Damages Commission for Victoria Street,Christchurch."

Internationally-regarded New Zealand printmaker, Barry Cleavin ponders the future for earthquake-torn Christchurch.

Associations - Colour - 2

Autumn

A Blush of Red

April 2010. Ajr

I Do - A Japanese Wedding

Sometimes, all I want is pretty.

No deep thinking, no intense philosophies.

Just visual delight in the world around me.

That's the kind of head space I was in yesterday when I went out photographing.

No continuing visual themes - just snaps of whatever caught my attention

And so it was that I tagged this Japanese couple around Cathedral Square Japanese weddings are a common sight in Christchurch and I always enjoy watching the way they approach compiling their photographic record of the event. It often involves a team of half a dozen, as they rush about various (predictable) landmarks, arranging themselves in smiling poses, before moving on to the next. There's often a shallow, business-like quality to the whole business, as if they've read that this is how it's done in the West, so this is what must be done - preferably in record time with minimum fuss.

But if you hang about on the edges, you sometimes see small, poignant moments, subdued gestures of love, telling looks, the lean of one body into another. They're the moments many photographers, so caught up in the big event, the frenetic gallop between locations and the arrangement of silks and veils, seem to miss. Overt, public expressions of love of course, are not the Japanese way. But sometimes, a smile, a respectful bow, a shy kiss on the forehead say far more.

Into the Blue.....

One Gull

Weightless

In Flight

2009 Ajr

StreetscapeNZ - 93

Queen Street

Auckland.

May 2010. Ajr

Langham Luxury

Auckland's Langham Hotel is one of my favourites.

There's an extravagance about the place that suits my self-indulgent nature.

Rooms are intimate and richly decorated. Barolo Italian Restaurant is a culinary heaven. A Langham afternoon tea pays homage to tradition Chuan Spa is a roof-top shrine to pampering And service throughout is impeccable http://www.langhamhotels.com/

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 108

"A Dead Sea Scroll."

Another work from our favourite printmaker.

To see more, click on Cleavin in the label line below this post.