PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN NEW ZEALAND
H.A. LARSEN
1st November 1947 Page 602 - Vol. 54 No. 11 Australasian Photo-Review
Some of you at least, will have by now inspected the Exhibition of 1946 New Zealand Inter-Club Competition prints which are at present on circuit in Australia; for the many who may have been unable to attend either club or public showings, your Editor has chosen a dozen representative prints for reproduction in this issue. Although the title of your journal should be a constant reminder to all of its chosen field, most of us have long forgotten the last occasion on which a group of New Zealand pictures were published as a complete portfolio, and the sight of these reproductions may well cause you to ask “how is pictorial photography faring across the Tasman?”
In the past, “before the war and all that”, your journal frequently told of photographic doings in New Zealand but, as your Editor recently wrote in a private communication, “. . . we seem to have drifted apart”. Of course, wartime photographic shortages “clipped our wings” so to speak, and New Zealanders had to “make do” with less of a great many things (just as you did), but today, out of the struggles and fortunes of war, new wings have grown — the Tasman Empire Air Service — an institution which makes us very much closer neighbors than ever before. We can now hope for really frequent inter-changes of pictures and, more important, of ideas.
New Zealand is truly, I can assure you, a happy hunting ground for pictorial photographers. Those who know New Zealand best and know the world outside as well, tell us that nowhere else can be found such a range of scenery that at once is so striking and so varied in its nature, yet within so small a domain. Glorious beaches and rugged coast-lines yield delightful seascapes. Rolling hills and fertile plains covered with native and exotic trees present landscapes that sometimes are characteristically “New Zealand”; at other times, the savor of the English countryside is sensed, for in some parts there are many English trees, and the haze will often help to provide that familiar “English atmosphere”. For scenic portrayal, there are the mountains and the mountain ranges. Majestic Mt. Cook, in the Southern Alps, rises to 12,000 feet, but there are many others which can show mountain grandeur that is a challenge to any photographer. On the other hand, for the fellow with the fast shutter and a “yen” for fast action, there is everything from winter sports to deep-sea fishing.
Since New Zealanders, like Australians, are largely an outdoor-living race and because the countryside just begs to be photographed, it is not surprising that a very large part of the exhibition pictures from New Zealand are of the outdoor type, landscapes, seascapes, scenics. As evidence of this, it might be mentioned that in the recent Inter-Club Exhibition, over half the total number of prints submitted were of the outdoor type.
In recent years, half-watt lamps have been very scarce, and that is probably why our workers have not made as full use of them as has been done in some countries, but lamps now seem to be available again, and many workers are putting them to good use. As far as the amateur is concerned, flash material similarly has been virtually unobtainable.
Also, in the realm of general equipment, New Zealanders are probably as diverse in their tastes as similar workers elsewhere; there are those who really believe that the miniature is the ideal camera for all jobs, while others who still maintain that there never was a camera to compare with their “trusty quarter-plate!”
Across the clubroom floors you will hear the traditional banter and gossip concerning every photographic topic under the sun.
The approach to photography is becoming more scientific; for example, many workers are learning to rely largely on photo-electric exposure meters; probably the advent of color, which is now making its presence known, will increase their numbers.
Roll and sheet films available have been a varied mixture of English, American, Belgian, Canadian and (by no means least) Australian. Some English Panatomic-X has been seen recently, while Australian Super-XX is winning many friends with its high speed and clean working.
Enlarging papers have been mainly English, but lately there is an increasing quantity of Australian origin. Enlargers have been whatever we had or could get, although now some very fine ones are being made in New Zealand, while a few more elaborate models are being imported.
In recent years organized pictorial photography has flourished to a surprising degree. After the first shock of war, the older members of clubs and societies settled down to the task of “keeping things going,” and despite the pangs of wartime shortages they “kept the pictures coming along” really well. In New Zealand, the strongest link that binds the clubs is perhaps the Annual Inter-Club Exhibition, the competition for the Bledisloe Cup. During his term as Governor-General of New Zealand, Lord Bledisloe donated this splendid trophy for annual competition amongst the clubs, each club making an entry of twelve prints. Each club in rotation has the privilege of conducting the competition, with a North Island club one year and a South Island one the next. Prints entered are individually allotted marks by three judges, and the print scoring the highest total be- comes the “champion” print of the year, while the club with the highest all-point score holds the cup for the year. After judging, the whole collection circulates first to the competing clubs and subsequently to such non-competing groups as may wish to exhibit the show.
As mentioned at the outset, a selection from the most recent groups to complete its itinerary is the group now being made available to Australian clubs; its circulation throughout the Commonwealth is by courtesy of the A.P.-R. and its publishers. In this particular exhibition, six competing clubs are represented, together with the judges; as regards the current year, up-to-date reports tend to indicate that there are at least a dozen clubs now active, so next year’s Inter-Club may well be larger still.
In New Zealand we see all too few original pictures by overseas workers, and therefore the Waikato Club has made a useful start in the direction of bringing more overseas pictures to be shown to New Zealand workers. Australian clubs who are receiving the New Zealand pictures for viewing or exhibition, are hereby invited to send exchange portfolios; exchange exhibitions are also being arranged with The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain and the Photographic Society of America.
The Waikato Club has also sponsored the formation and operation here of the Australasian-American International Portfolios; these are conducted in America by the Photographic Society of America. It is hoped, too, that an Anglo-Australasian one may soon be started with Royal Photographic Society co-operation.
In the field of color, the way seems to be rapidly opening up ahead; for the first time, an inter-club color slide competition has been held, sponsored by the Christchurch Society, and it is expected that it will not be long before this feature is as well supported as our regular print competition. The availability of materials will have a decided bearing on this, of course, but with Kodachrome and Ektachrome now making their appearance, this seems assured.
It is some years now since an International Salon has been organized in New Zealand, the last being held in Wellington; this was in 1940 in conjunction with the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition. Next year, however, the Waikato Photographic Society will be conducting such a salon in Hamilton in June next, and as Royal Photographic Society and Photographic Society of Americasupport has been promised, it is anticipated that it will be a great success. The exhibition will be shown in other main centres as well, so that as many people as possible may see the accepted prints.
What of the future of photography in New Zealand? There seems little doubt that growth is at present vigorous and healthy, with more and more workers coming under the spell of pictorialism. At the same time, I doubt very much whether New Zealand is developing any particular element in its portrayals that could be called a national characteristic; one finds workers who prefer the blunt forthright statement of the American school and yet others whose work even reflects a deeper thoughtfulness; some again like their pictures to be bold and strong, while others revel in the dainty airiness of delicate atmospheric effects.
In conclusion, let me say we have many excellent workers of whose pictures we can be proud. We have, too, a certain number who seem to make little progress, but that will ever be, and as elsewhere, the real future must lie with those serious workers who so love our great art that they need no “prodding”. They will be the backbone of the clubs, and their work will be a lasting inspiration and help for the straggler along the road.
