Thursday 29 May 2008

sitting under the verandah

Once a sofa is past its best then place it under the verandah. Invite some friends over for beers and watch the world go by. I am thinking that this is what the scene is about, but it is also about the couch and the curtain and the little toy in the window. I am interested that it is all colour coordinated.
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Wednesday 28 May 2008

a cottage near town


a cottage near town, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

These colonial cottages are just another fifty metres up the road from the previous posting. when I look at these houses I imagine that railway workers, bank clerks, dockers, writers, poets, painters and various artists have lived here, and enjoyed the birdsong from the surrounding trees. But that is just my imagination.
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Tuesday 27 May 2008

looking down


looking down, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

Walking up Bowen Street and you see this view of narrow streets below and what were once workers cottages, only five minutes walk from the central business area. I watched as a fellow came walking down the middle of the road, looking intently at something in his hand, maybe a cellphone. But that's okay, there was no traffic about.
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Monday 26 May 2008

walking through the park

The buildings to the left are a community hall, and preschool centre. Up the road are boutique shops, and cafés. This small park on certain early evenings is a gathering place for alternative looking youth for drinking beer. But this day it had been mostly raining and there were not many here at all. It was a good time to take a photo with the autumn leaves setting the colour scheme.
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Sunday 25 May 2008

poster art


poster art, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

My wife and I will sometimes on a Sunday afternoon walk by the Victoria University, and go in and visit the Adams Art Gallery. I look at the posters on the way and usually I take a photo, but until now have never posted any. So today I have, it may be because they have a sort of Andy Warhol 'pop art' look about the way they are displayed. Or maybe I just like pink and yellow.
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Thursday 22 May 2008

steep


steep, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

I think that taking photos is like being a beachcomber. Just ambling along and poking around to see what you might find. Then picking up some small treasure like a shell or odd shape stone, you take it home and put it on the porch.
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Wednesday 21 May 2008

around & up the hill


around & up the hill, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

Whenever I come to this intersection I generally take a photo. They generally do not come off. This one is not perfect either. But today there were chalk marks on the road, that is a help for sure. The houses seemed stacked upon each other and with the ample foreground I am always looking for an angle to photograph
.View On Black

Tuesday 20 May 2008

forsaken shop


forsaken shop, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

Maybe a shopping mall opened around the corner and this commercial building is beyond requirement. Rather than broken windows everything has been boarded up. What is interesting is the choice of different coloured plywood, I feel that it is possibly perfectly balanced.
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Monday 19 May 2008

a house and a yard


a house and a yard, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

The houses stand surrounded by bush covered hills, even so, it is nice to have a tree in the front yard because in small towns the yards are large. That is why some people like to live here.
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Sunday 18 May 2008

crime scene


crime scene, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

Every so often one needs to freshen up and go some where else to get a different perspective. And so after weeks of graffiti, peeling posters and general urban decay, my wife and I got the car out of the shed, and headed around the harbour, and over the hill to Wainuiomata. I was hoping to immerse myself in small town New Zealand, and bring back a few photos. And I did, but also we headed a bit further down the road till we reached the sand and the sea. We discovered a cluster of fishermen, and what looked like a crime scene, the remains of a burnt out car.View On Black

Thursday 15 May 2008

dealer gallery


dealer gallery, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

I generally photograph something because their seems to be a sense of place about it, or the sense that something is about to happen. Or mostly just to show what it feels like to be here. I took this photograph because it is the stairway to Peter McLeavey Gallery, a dealer in contemporary New Zealand art for more decades than most. It is the unpretentiousness of this doorway that appeals to me. Even his sign is hidden in the dark. A pedestrian walked into the photo, but that's the street.
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Wednesday 14 May 2008

green coat & orange boots

I was filling in some time down on Cuba Street, looking at the shops, and the people walking past. Noticed the shop here that is covered in newspaper, last week there were guitars. Noticed too the people walking past, one striding confidently in orange boots and a women with a green coat.
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Tuesday 13 May 2008

the side entrance


the side entrance, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

The front of the restaurant looks different of course, but here I rather like the snail.
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Monday 12 May 2008

a wall


a wall, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

This week I'm digging though the 'b' sides, my weekend outings did not provide any pickings to speak of. This photo is just a wall with some intentional art and some incidental marks, and a bit of self sown shrubbery. Putting both together I think is more interesting.
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Sunday 11 May 2008

looking better


looking better, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

The days are now shorter, and as I come to the end of my usual weekend walk with my camera I find I am walking in the dark. That's OK because the light was dull and overcast for much of the day, was better to go shopping.
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Thursday 8 May 2008

workshop


workshop, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

This building has a rusty corrugated iron facsimile. I think it may have been accidental. But if they had to rebuild, I would hope they would do it again.
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Wednesday 7 May 2008

puddle


puddle, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

I have stood on the street and taken a photo looking into the car park. But now there is a big puddle, it seemed best to stand in the car park and photograph out.
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Tuesday 6 May 2008

adaptation


adaptation, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

I am finding that I often photograph places in transition with traces of the past and the future. The large building was T.L. Watkins Ltd, bookbinders and printers. Across the street is Logan Brown Restaurant, it was a bank. The wire fence enclosures what was a petrol station, not sure where that is going. And on the surface there is always graffiti.
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Monday 5 May 2008

telephone pole & other pointed objects

Some buildings are odd, and it takes some effort to make them this way. Someone has had a dream, and brought this dream to fruition. I don't know why, and I don't have to know, I'm just happy that it fits in with the wire draping across the sky.
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Thursday 1 May 2008

spot


spot, originally uploaded by Lester Ralph Blair.

I am interested in spaces that have become something else than what they were built for. Places that were a dwelling that are now galleries, or lofts that are now apartments, and basements that are now bars etc. I think this may have been a shop, but now it is somewhere to live, and when that happens there may be problematic corners. In this window space the problem has been solved by a dog.
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