Island Bay

Click on photos for larger view These two photographs were taken last summer at Island Bay. Not sure if I like the above one because it's a bit predictable, but the shapes are interesting.

When I was younger I used to hunt with my camera but these days photographs just pop up in front of me. I often walk around Island Bay beach. It's a place where the sand and sea blend with lovely tones. This dog just appeared with the owners in toe. It has become a favourite because it has mystery. I'm going to gather my Island Bay pictures and show them on this blog.

Four ice creams

Click on photos for larger view Having a coffee in Courteney Place. A man sat down and ate four ice creams.

Just outside on the street was a busking dancer. There has been a lot of dancing in the street lately. It's great to watch especially a young boy who is trying to get to a tap festival. I took photos of him, but nothing good.

Interislander

Click on photos for a larger view On the ferry between Picton and Wellington a few weeks ago we were having a race with the other boat, and they slowly won.

On the deck was a family from Zimbabwe. I asked if I could photograph the boy and they were really happy.

Looking through the pictures I realised that this was really the interesting one.

The Green Man

Click on photos to enlarge Some colour work from the archives. The green man was shot during the Rugby Sevens a few months ago. Wellington goes crazy with dress up while the rugby is on.

The westy sign from fooling kids. Could also be a war zone with bullet holes, but it's not.

The sleeping fisherman on Kawhia wharf

Fur Coat

Click on photos for a larger view3pm Just returned from a walk up Cuba St on a lovely day. I live in an apartment looking right down Cuba St and it only takes about 5 minutes to the centre of town. I spied this lady in a fur coat who stood for ages in the same spot. Here are two pictures shot about two seconds apart and only 30 minutes ago. She could be still there!

Digital cameras have the magic of instant gratification and unrestricted shooting. Polaroid was the same but cost a fortune. Not sure if digital has made any difference to the way I see things, but it is certainly exciting.

Two New Favourites

Yes I know I'm going to burn out with this blogging business, but it's new and fascinating right now. Email julian.ward@xtra.co.nz if you have any suggestions and pass the blog to others please.

Click on photo for larger view Sometimes I have to live with photographs for a year or two before I decide if they are worth keeping. The one above was taken in Wellington about 6 months ago, just before a surfer was killed by another board, in this very spot at Lyall Bay. The airport is just to the left. This is becoming one of my recent favourites. I don't use telephoto (or wide angle) lenses so I'm not well equipped for this kind of work.

Another becoming a favourite. Surfers Paradise last year.

Patea Ready

Click on the photos for a larger view. When I posted the Patea tent photographs (below) the other day it got me thinking about Patea. This photo above was in my second book Just a Word... 1996. The old public loos in Patea which don't exist any longer. But the photo below is interesting as well. For years the letters MIX had fallen of the READYMIX sign as you entered Patea. I used to chuckle (especially after the freezing works closed) what a great sign for a town.

Patea Ready (1991) almost became the title of a book of NZ landscapes I planned to publish. I may still do it it in the future. I wonder how many other people saw the irony of the town's welcome sign. Too late! the sign has been fixed. Patea is a great place to stop when travelling to New Plymouth. I always turn left and go to the river mouth. An ever changing place and the west coast light is magic. I'll gather some of the river mouth photographs soon.

I was in Patea recently with my good mate and fine photographer David Fairey (New Plymouth). We stopped and saw this tent. Technically he found the image first but being the plagiariser I am I also took a photograph. The truth is he was standing his ground when a neighbour confronted us. "How dare you take photographs in our street". People are so hung up about privacy these days, yet they still look at picture books!

Wedding guests

Click on the photos for a larger view

A short while ago I was lucky to be invited to an Assyrian wedding. These are just two of many images I made. Wedding guests are always interesting.

I like this photo because her dress appears to shine.

Way back in the 1970s I happened on a wedding in New Plymouth. I may have been the official photographer I can't remember. At the time I was paying off a mortgage and wedding photography was a way to make money, though rather stressful. I would often carry my Leica with black and white film and take my own pictures.

You can see more of these early wedding photos on my web site. http://www.julianward.co.nz/

Hands

Click on the photos for a larger view Mrs Walker's hands. New Plymouth 1973. I have hundreds of photos of people's hands. This is an early one. I don't remember much about Mrs Walker but I do remember she had a huge collection of dolls. They are behind her in a portrait I also made.

I remember meeting this lady in Inglewood, Taranaki 1981. She said she was a gum diggers wife in about 1910. Her hands were always wet from washing gum and were wrinkled as a young woman.

I found this lady in a cafe in Wellington this year while having a coffee with John Fields (exhibited at PhotoSpace recently with beautiful work from the 1960/70s). I wanted to do a portrait of the lady but was drawn to her hands. She was a regular in the cafe and I took a picture back to her.

These are the hands of John Bain a retired film maker of Wellington. He is now in his 80s and gets around in a wheel chair. He often makes the trip (on his own) to the movies. He travels across Porirua, under the motorway and watches every film he can.

Last weekend I visited Betty Wilson who was well known in the PhotoForum scene perhaps 20 years ago.

She has very poetic hands.

After some time I knew I had the picture I wanted.

New Street Photographs

Click on the photos for a larger view The Dancing Indian is one of my most recent finds. He was there just outside Mac Donald's. I love the quirkiness of his flight. I find many of my photographs in Manners Mall and Cuba St in Wellington, New Zealand where I live.

This man I recently spied looking down on me with his strange glasses. I love these moments.

Please take the time to look at my web site http://www.julianward.co.nz/

On this blog site I hope to show new work as well as new old discoveries from my 40 years of negatives.