On this blog I am presenting a selection of images by amateur New Zealand photographers from my collection. The amateur's photo album is usually full of those special events that make a family. Mum, the kids, or the 'rallies', [and sometimes dad, when you could get the camera from him], in the garden dressed in their Sunday best, birthdays, Christmas, and don't forget those holiday snaps, out-of-focus, or badly framed. The last two faults can mostly be blamed on the cameras, with their tiny viewfinders and lenses that left a lot to be desired. But one or two shots will stand out, there is something a little different or amusing about them. And sometimes the photographer had a very good eye, a very good camera, or was just lucky. These are the images I will be selecting for this blog, and my only rule for selection is that I like the image.
With many of the images I know nothing about the photographer, but where I do these details are listed, and with some images I have included memories from the photographers family members.
Most of the photographs are from family albums purchased at auction, family estates, from descendants of the photographer, and a few were rescued from the tip. So if you have an old album, I'm interested, BUT please do not dump it. These albums are great to see and should be preserved, they are a window into the past. With the advent of the digital camera, CD/DVD disc's etc, albums are becoming a thing of the past. In 50 years [I'm being generous here] you will only be able to access todays images if you can find a player thats still working.
I welcome any comments from viewers.
All images are copyright and are not to be used without permission.
'A walk in the bush.' c.1900.
[ glass-plate negative ]
'The Picnic.'
[ glass-plate negative ]
This always reminds me of a impressionist painting, but I can't remember by who.
I believe the location is Lake Wakatipu. c.1900.
'The street entertainer.'
From an album c.1899, probably Christchurch.
'Can't quite get it!'
How far do you go to get that shot?
From an album of snaps of a Rotorua holiday, 1920.
'What are you doing?'
From a collection of loose photos taken
during the construction of the Waitaki Power Station. c.1935.
'A walk in the bush.' c.1900.
'The street entertainer.'
'Can't quite get it!' 
Posts
"How far do you go to get that shot?"
ReplyDeleteI think it depends who's watching.
More interesting things! I love photos of places from the past- my dad had some he took going back to about 1918 in NZ. Maybe the painting you were thinking of when looking at "The Picnic" might have been this Manet:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oil-paintings.com/html/manet06.html
OR: this Seurat http://silartetaitconte.hautetfort.com/archive/2007/11/18/un-dimanche-a-la-grande-jatte-seurat-georges-1886.html
OR: this
http://www.imagestate.com/Preview/PreviewPage.aspx?id=1275811