The Microphen

You know the other day I developed some film in microphen, well here's the results.

You may recognise the above building from here - or not.

I was trying a new film too - some cheap Forte stuff I picked up in Auckland a while back.

I've long had a thing for lonely empty seats - surprised more haven't turned up in this blog actually.

And the obligatory self portrait - just to test for skin tones and so on (he says somewhat defensively).

The New

"So do you like my new ...?"

"Um ... tshirt."

"Oh come on, it's already starred in a shot here!"

"Um ... haircut."

"Does this look new?!"

"Um ... glasses."

"Nahhh."

"Um ... shower curtain."

"Yeah right, like that's gonna happen in this lifetime."

"Um ... mirror??."

"You what?!"

"Abs!!"

"Oh ha ha."

"Well fuck, I dunno."

"Camera, dimwit. It's a new camera!"

"Yeah; like you don't have enough of them in your life already ..."

Yes folks, I am the proud owner of a new (secondhand) Polaroid 350. It cost me $30, though the guy who sold it to me said he should be selling it for much more, but who am I to argue. And I got a bunch of other crap that goes with it. Like a flash, with a lovely blue filter (anti-tungsten I assume), but no bulb. The original case and manuals. A cool little mechanical self-timer. A portrait set, with a special portrait lens (possibly just a closer-up filter) and a diffusion screen for the flash. And the receipt for the poor guy who paid $50 for it back in 1998. Talk about classy. And what's more you can still buy film for it. Talk about neato.

Postscript: A man with a camera sent me this link which has some rather nice polaroid work by various (American) photographers.

The Mistake

This is what happens when you see a shot, realise that you don't have time to set up the tripod, so guess the focussing and framing, forget to push the bellows out of the way, forget how to take a decent exposure, and then handhold the camera for six seconds. It's quite cool really, eh?

The Head

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to start being a bit more actively 'political' with my photography. There have been moments of 'politics' in my work (like shooting the opening of Parliament last year!!), but I felt I needed to push the idea somewhat. I will always argue that there is an underlying 'political' message to most of my exhibited work. Whether people pick up on it or not is another matter, and not the (whole) point.

I am involved in an ongoing project, which I kind of hope is objective and 'apolitical', although the reality is that it is the sort of project that would only be undertaken by someone with my viewpoint - or by someone getting paid to do so. I have been trying to create a web archive of these works but am struggling with the format.

Anyway, this new project I decided to get started on (before it was too late), actually proved harder than I thought. But maybe that was just because I decided to do it on 4x5, rather than Hasselblad/Holga/Canon/Agfa/Agfa/Agfa/Agfa (honestly I don't have a 'thing' about Agfa cameras, it just turned out that way).


So, there I was, on a beautifully sunny Sunday (not really great light for taking photos), wandering around the head (ok so it's really a point, but head is such a romantic word), wondering how I was actually going to photograph the bloody place.

Then I saw this little rise and went "Ooh, I wonder". So I trotted up, framed it up and went "Nah, it's shit".

Then I thought "Hey, how about a panorama?".

So I did. That's it up there.

Then I wandered around and took a few more shots. These ones. To be precise.




I don't know if it's obvious to you, but a ladder would have been really handy.

Okay. Enough already! I hear you. Here's the explanation.

Te Raekaihau Point is the proposed site of the Aquarium of New Zealand. For some reason it isn't as newsworthy as the Stadium of New Zealand, but it is the cause of some aggravation here in Wellington - well on the South Coast anyway. Read the arguments here (for) and here (against).

Do you need to know where I stand on the issue? Really it should come as no surprise to most of you. You should have realised by now that I am against change in any form. And being a luddite I greatly disapprove of the so-called 'progress' capitalist culture is dependent upon in an ever worsening vicious circle of destruction and environmental catastrophy borne out of arrogance and ignorance.

The Story

There I was stuck in traffic, trying to get to a couple of openings, listening to M. Ward on the Ipod, and this song pops up.

It seemed rather apt ... the story of my life even.

Story of An Artist

Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold

Everyone, and friends and family
Saying, "Hey! Get a job!"
"Why do you only do that only?
Why are you so odd?
We don't really like what you do.
We don't think anyone ever will.
It's a problem that you have,
And this problem's made you ill."

Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold

The artist walks alone
Someone says behind his back,
"He's got his gall to call himself that!
He doesn't even know where he's at!"
The artist walks among the flowers
Appreciating the sun
He does this all his waking hours
But is it really so wrong?

They sit in front of their TV
Saying, "Hey! This is fun!"
And they laugh at the artist
Saying, "He doesn't know how to have fun."
The best things in life are truly free
Singing birds and laughing bees
"You've got me wrong", says he.
"The sun don't shine in your TV"

Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold

Everyone, and friends and family
Saying, "Hey! Get a job!"
"Why do you only do that only?
Why are you so odd?
We don't really like what you do.
We don't think anyone ever will.
It's a problem that you have,
And this problem's made you ill."

Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old.
Some would try for fame and glory
Others just like to watch the world.

Those of you with impecable musical taste will have immediately realised that I was not listening to the original version, but to a cover - as equally gorgeous as the original it has to be said.

Those of you with impecable musical taste obviously won't need to be told this, but the songwriter is the great (some use the word genius, though I recently read an article denying him that status - this one I think but, don't take my word for it) Daniel Johnston who is now quite a hip person to namedrop thanks in large part to this film, which comes out on DVD soon and I can highly recommend. Here's a brief bio of the man. And if you're really interested this is the album to get - the original tracks on one disc, and cover versions of the same songs on the other disc (just in case you can't handle the originals).

The Darkroom

Who'd've thought it eh? Me setting up a darkroom in my home. With a few pieces of builders plastic (thanks to last week's shoot), a $3 tarp from Mitre 10, and the wife's ironing board, I managed to turn my bathroom into a suitable substitute for the real thing. Sure I had to wait until after 10pm to get going but when needs must ...

But Mr Microphen sir, it's not very dark. And where's that nice red light thing?

Well for the work I do in the darkroom I only require two states - light and dark. None of this namby pamby I'm afraid of the dark whore lighting for me.

Bit of a mess really. I don't think it will become a regular habit really.

And for the record, for all you anal retentive technophile types, the roll of 120 was actually developed in Microphen (ring any bells?!) - admittedly old stuff that'd been sitting around unused for nearly a year. The sheets were developed in Rodinal, which Agfa no longer makes (thanks guys), so if any of you are sitting on any of this I'll gladly take it off your hands.

The Capa

Yes I am fully aware that it is a bit rich, blasphemous even, for me to compare myself to Robert Capa (read the link then you'll understand why), but having only seen crap contacts prints of this roll of film it was a wee bit of a revelation to scan it and see these results. My first response was to recall Capa's famous D- Day landing images - all grainy, blurry, contrasty and gorgeous. So these shots are my (accidental) vague homage to that man.

The Porter

As in Eliot Porter.

The Works

The Bang

Okay so I'm a little late, but I trust you'll forgive me ... just this once.

Every November the Wellington City Council wastes our precious rates on blowing things up over the harbour. I still have yet to work out why. Nor have I worked out why it's only things that explode into colourful balls, and nothing exciting like cars or toilets or bombs.

Anyway in 2001 I walked up the hill behind my then flat (though by nice coincidence it is also the hill behind my current abode) and took this shot by setting up the camera and leaving the shutter open for the duration of the display (a whole fifteen minutes according to my records) - that's why it's a bit of a mess.


Then I turned the camera around, pointed it towards Brooklyn at all the idiots (or mature sensible people, depending on your beliefs, and naturally being a non-judgmental purely objective blogger I refuse to make any public statements regarding my own beliefs and/or political leanings and/or desires) creating their own fun and took this. Also for a whole fifteen minutes according to my records.

Isn't that just the most exciting news you've heard all day?!!

The Valley

A couple of years back, 2002 actually, while my mate Nic was experiencing one of his then irregular sabbaticals on the mainland I decided to go visit him. He was staying with his Dad in The Valley - where we grew up. I had recently acquired a new camera and finished my studies and had a plan to 'document' the place.

The first location was just around the corner from where I grew up. On 20 December 1976 more than 350 mm of rain fell in 24 hours on our little valley. There was flooding. Our house was hit due to the stream running through our backyard. Just up the road a couple of houses lost their footing. (Look at the photo halfway down on the left.) It was here I wanted to photograph. After trapsing around for a bit we discovered that there really was nothing much worth photographing.

So we drove around The Valley a bit and came across these shops - just around the corner from where Nic grew up, but not that close to where his Dad now lives.


I astounded Nic by taking half an hour to set up the shot, having him wandering around taking meter readings for me and then enjoying the huge anticlimax of shooting for 1/15th of a sec. There is a feeling that when a photo has taken that long to compose, it should take a bit longer to shoot it.

While I took this because I was struck by how run down the shops had become, I also remember one summer, on a couple of occasions my best friend and I would ride around The Valley going to dairies where we were unknown and steal crap - burger rings, twisties, coke etc. This was one of the places we hit.

Good golly we were so naughty. It was Kerry's influence that no doubt set me on my path to drug addiction, murder and white collar crime.

This is my only shot from that day. I have been meaning to go back and shoot more, but just never got around to it.

The Aberhart

When I was down south earlier this year I was cruising around Akaroa looking for places to stay which were listed in my five year old Rough Guide. There was supposed to be a good place well out of town. It turned out to be the most uninviting campground ever - no signage, and a big gate. I decided not to stay there.

But this church was just down the road. And I just had to go in and pretend I was Laurence Aberhart.

So I possibly failed in my hopes, but it is a lovely old church. And small. I had to have the camera back against the door with my widest lens. There was barely room for me to stand.

In case you couldn't guess this is the outside. I had to stand on my camera cases to get the right height - a rare occurence for me. And I had to contend with two young locals and their dog thinking my rickety tripod would be fun to play on. They were wrong.

The Double

In the early stages of developing my world-beating device that allows you to shoot 35mm film on any medium format camera, I played around with various methods of film carrier. The first was an extremely complex and fiddly device and not at all user friendly in any way. Imagine the fiddliness involved in loading a 4x5 film holder - then times it by a thousand. (Okay so loading a 4x5 film holder isn't fiddly at all once you've got the hang of it, but hopefully you get the idea.)

Anyway, this prototype device did in fact allow me to load two strips of 35mm film side by side. I only did it the once. Imagine the fiddliness involved in loading one strip of 35mm film in the device - then times it by a thousand. That film sat around in a plastic bag for a good couple of years, moving from house to house, fridge to bedroom to car to bedroom to fridge (in no particular order), before I decided it was time to shoot that muhth-er-fuhk-er (correct phonetic spelling).

As with any experimentation there were some unexpected results. In the way the films married together. In the apparent lack of flatness of the film. In the quality of the film after being so mistreated for so long.

Clearly some shots were better than others. Overall I did get the what I was hoping for (see last image especially), but buggered if I'm going to try it again in a hurry.

At least not the way I did it. I do have new ideas on how to do it better - though where there may be time savings on one step, time may well be added for another.




In other exciting news, thanks to my mate Tim here's a link to Mark Amery's DomPost column from Friday 20 October about ME (oh and some other, less exciting people too). This is the version Mark submitted before the DomPost butchers I mean sub-editors got their hands on it.

And in other exciting news, my mate Simon has started a blog too - the mightily titled Swim Star Challenge 2007 (this guy should go into reality TV). It's not a photo-blog (if the title's not a give away) but it's worth a laugh - especially to those in the know (you'll know who you are when you see it).

The Self

Oh how I wish I had a full time assistant with me so that when I decide to do stupid treks like this - four hour return wander along the coast - I could have someone else helping lug the gear around. And it'll be good if they knew how to work the gear too - so I could take stupid photos like this one. Even if it was just a girlfriend I could cajoule into coming along.

Hell, screw the camera help, I just wish I had a girlfriend.

But as much as I like to moan about my pitiful life, what I really like about this shot is that is a true self-portrait. I guessed the focus and then stood in the wrong place. That softness is quietly flattering, covering up all my ancient wrinkles. The side lighting's quite nice too. That sun of ours is a pretty good light source really.

At the moment I'm in the process of sorting out all my negatives and trannies - again. Well the 4x5 ones really (cos the others are pretty well organised), pulling out bodies of work so that they are all together and not randomly scattered. That kind of thing.

In going through the folders, I've come across a few nice shots which will be appearing here in time. This is one of them. It's what happens when you get a bored me, a night time, an awol flatmate, and a 60watt bulb hung from the ceiling. Again I guessed the focus I think, then stood remarkably still for one second even while releasing the shutter. Christ I'm just so talented.


Again that assistant and/or girlfriend could have helped, but then the result wouldn't have been quite the same, and not so ME.

So maybe on second thoughts, screw the assistant, and screw the girlfriend. They're both just too much trouble. Give me lonely and bitter anyday.

The Bambina

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air. I never thought I could feel so free. Funny how word association can cause you to be reminded of long lost lyrics.

Anyway, what I was trying to say was. Believe it or not, this is one of my favourite ever shots. Just a snap, taking while out wandering one weekend. I'd never before seen this garage open. I would never for a moment have thought it was so cool inside. But there you have it.

The Dickhead

I can lay no claim to taking these photos. I can barely lay claim to giving permission for them to be taken. What I can lay claim to is not getting the permission of the person who did take them to 'publish' them on this here blog type thing. Copyright, schmopyright!! Complain as much as you like lady, I don't care!!

Man on the left, random stranger, co-creator of the contraption, was supposed to be the model. Man on the right, dickhead, sucker, and occasional camera hog/hag.


And it wasn't even wearable arts weekend, it was Dukes of Leisure, and they ROCK.

And by way of a seamless segue, somehow linking these 'borrowed' images to some shots I posted a while ago to this picture, I give my thanks to The David.

The Overbridge

Here are some shots from yet another incomplete, half-arsed body of work. One of the hardest bodies I've attempted. Wellington has a lack of cool overbridges (or at least a lack of inter-tangling interchange things), and admittedly there are still a few overbridges I haven't shot from. And I should probably do some shots in Auckland, but Auckland sucks and I don't want to go up there no more.

And the weather is just completely wrong. It would be so easy in the UK or Europe with their big expansive grey skies producing flat light, a lack of heavy shadows, and consistent sky density - none of these horrible harsh shadows and fluffy clouds.




Whinge whinge mumble grumble.

They're pretty cool pics though eh?

The Bloodening

Okay Jodi maybe you were right, maybe I should probably bike less. Not to stop, as you say, those terrible lies entering my head. Just to stop me bleeding quite so much.


Nice eh?! I've done worse though, in my time. Still got remnants of a bruise from a month ago. And scars from too many roads from years ago.

And seeing as I've finished working, and it's such a lovely day, I'm going to jump on that bike again and see what other damage I can do.

The Cross

Okay so I've already resorted to repeating titles. But it was either that or "The David" which um ... I used right at the beginning of this time waster.

Anyway, amongst other things, David likes finding/creating biblical references in his photography. Not in an obvious way, but pleasantly abstract. I'm not sure if I was thinking bibles when I took this, or if I just liked the image.

Well whatever, I still like it. For lots of reasons.

The Genesis

I'm in the process of patenting a device that allows you to shoot 35mm film on any medium format camera. That's the exciting bit ANY medium format camera - it's not one of those massively over-priced propriety adapters that will only fit your model of camera, this fits any medium format camera.

Of course that'll mean absolutely nothing to most of you, but that's your problem not mine.


Here are some shots I took on my old Agfa Clack (well it's hardly going to be new now is it?!)



Hmmmm. Nice. Random light leak, soft focus, no exposure control. Fantastic.

The Pop

The Sea

The Garden

One of the nicest pieces of public art I've ever seen. Sadly no longer with us.

The Desert

Here's a little shot I took a wee while back. It's actually 3 Hasselblad frames that I comped together really quickly. Ya just gotta love that PhotoShop thing eh?!