D-Photo April–May 2018 preview

N E W Z E ALAND’S LEA D ING PH OTOGRA PHY M AGAZ I N E

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THE CUTEST THING YOU’LL SEE ALL DAY A SIMPLE GUIDE TO NEWBORN SNAPS SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHER? HERE’S WHAT IT TAKES PROTECT FROM THEFT IMAGE COPYRIGHT MADE EASY

A M AT E U R P H OTOG RA PH E R OF T H E YE A R OPE N FOR E NT R IE S

CONTENTS

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FEATURES

12 Exposure | Adventure photography 24 Assignment | Humans of South Auckland 34 Focus | Alejandro Chaskielberg 42 Folio | Kevin Capon 54 Focus | Antipodean Emanations 78 Copyright | Paul Byrne

HOW TO

60 Long exposures — the low-down | Brent Purcell 66 Capturing portraits of pups with personality | Craig Bullock 72 A simple guide to newborn snaps | Cass English

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GEAR

82 Gearducated | Leon Rose 88 Explained | Nikon F-mount 90 Outdoor essentials | 2018 buyers guide

COMMUNITY

06 Your shots 98 PSNZ | 2018 National Convention 100 Club | Greymouth Photography Club 102 Calendar

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EXPOSURE | BEN SANFORD, NEIL SILVERWOOD, AND BEN JACKSON

SO YOU WANT TO B E AN ADVENTU RE PH OTOGR APH ER?

The images taken by Ben Sanford, Neil Silverwood, and Ben Jackson inspire the adventure photographers’ audiences to follow them outdoors and prove that the Southern Hemisphere really does make for the perfect playground. However, in capturing alpine sunsets and limestone formations, the photogs put their bodies on the line to get the incredible shots

WO R D S | A D R I AN HATWE LL

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BEN SANFORD, ASPIRING, SONY A7R II, CANON EF 16–35MM F/2.8L II USM LENS, 35MM, 1/60S, F/9, ISO 100

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ASSIGNMENT | HUMANS OF SOUTH AUCKLAND

H U M A N S O F SOU T H AUC K L A N D

Balancing the mainstream media’s recurrent reports of violence, poverty, and crime, Humans of South Auckland was developed in 2014 to celebrate the community’s abundant stories of love, hope, and pride. Since then, the project has evolved into something that reflects the unique composition of the streets to which it is dedicated

WORD S | AD RIAN HATWE LL

A person’s relationship with the place they come from is inevitably complex. When you love the community you come from but only ever see it represented in negative stereotyping by outsiders and the media, that relationship can become one of fierce, defensive pride. The need to celebrate the diverse, overlooked truths and to kick back against the unfair caricatures becomes something of a duty.

At least, that’s clearly how the devoted storytellers behind Humans of South Auckland feel.

Initially set up in the mould of Brandon Stanton’s hugely popular street photoblog, Humans of New York, the project was born of a desire to redress the stigmatized reputation of Auckland’s informally defined southern suburbs.

Founded by Jasmine Jenke, and run by a team of volunteers, the online Humans of South Auckland project was developed as a balance to the mainstream media’s recurrent reports of violence, poverty, and crime; instead, it celebrates the community’s abundant stories of love, hope, and pride.

Since the beginning in 2014, the project has evolved into something that reflects the unique composition of the streets to which it is dedicated.

Maree Steunebrink, a volunteer almost since day one, explains how she and Jasmine slowly honed the project’s focus over time.

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“In the beginning, there was a real mix of approaching people on the street, getting nominations, some scenic stuff, some fashion — Jaz had a lot of ideas [that] she wanted to incorporate.

That quickly developed into, ‘Actually, we’re going to save the space on our page for storytelling’.”

Each week, the project features stories of everyday people from the region who are simply living life well and making their community a better place for it. Their stories are accompanied by a simple, earnest, environmental portrait to further help locals connect with each other. The unadorned, accessible format has attracted almost 30,000 followers to the Facebook-based project. A little over a year ago, the responsibility for shepherding that sizable flock was handed to Maree.

Already the scribe behind the online stories, Maree is now also shooting portraits, alongside volunteer photographers Alex Carter and Monique Lee. The process begins with a subject being nominated, through word of mouth or an online message, and one of the volunteers scheduling a time and place to meet up and hear their story. That usually takes about an hour.

“I’ve found rapport is built super quick, and part of that is personality; the volunteers are really good with people. Secondly, we are there because we

ALEX CARTER ¯ JOSEPHO, MANGERE, CANON EOS 5D MARK III, CANON EF 50MM F/1.2L USM LENS, 50MM, 1/1000S, F/21, ISO 160

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FOCUS | ALEJANDRO CHASKIELBERG

L I G H T I N G A L A BY RI N T H

Argentinian photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg’s forthcoming photobook Laberinto sees photojournalism married with artful experimentation, illustrating that all realities have light and shade. Now, thanks to the Auckland Festival of Photography and the Argentinian foreign affairs ministry, local audiences will be granted a first look at the publication

WORDS | ADRIAN HATWELL

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LABERINTO, 2017. AN AERIAL VIEW OF THE LABYRINTH OF EL HOYO, A MAZE THAT WAS GROWN SECRETLY BY A FAMILY OVER THE COURSE OF 20 YEARS, CHUBUT, PATAGONIA ARGENTINA 35

FOLIO | KEVIN CAPON

“Back in those days, we were fed a diet of American television, like Disneyland, kind of a numb, Christian approach to life itself,” the photographer recalls. “A lot of people in those situations come out with a slightly rebellious nature, and I think I was one of them”

A CO M P EL L I N G CO M M EN TA RY

The unique photographic style of acclaimed photographer Kevin Capon falls somewhere in between the commercial and the candid. Providing a rarely seen picture of New Zealand, Kevin’s enigmatic archive of images unravels the cultural anxieties and changing communities of the past four decades

WORDS | ADRIAN HATWELL

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RUSSELL KERR, LINHOF 8X10-INCH VIEW CAMERA, 5.6/210MM SCHNEIDER LENS

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FOLIO || KEVIN KEVIN CAPON CAPON

JENNY MCLEOD, LINHOF 8X10-INCH VIEW CAMERA, 5.6/210MM SCHNEIDER LENS

Kevin Capon knows what it is to be hated. This was never his intention, of course — it was thrust upon him — but the thoughtful photographer manages to find silver linings even in the miasma of hate.

“I have to say, once you get used to being hated, it’s not so bad,” the artist, who now approaching his 60th birthday, explains mirthfully. “You either come to terms with it, or it crushes you; and if you come to terms with it, you become a lot stronger.”

Artists are seldom strangers to controversy, and Kevin is certainly one of Aotearoa’s more intriguing art photographers, but it’s not his art that has engendered this animosity. His celebrated collection of portraits featuring

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notable people from the national arts community of the 1980s, while confronting in their proximity, are unlikely to generate anything like loathing.

Rather than the works, it’s the artist’s unswerving commitment to living his passion and doing what’s right that has been ruffling feathers throughout his life. Seemingly a proponent of the any-waybut-the-easy-way school of thought, Kevin has had his scrapes with poverty, racism, illness, commodification, bureaucracy … you name it, he and his stalwart wife, Carol Te Teira Capon, have gone through it and made the art to prove it.

The artist locates the beginnings of his recalcitrant impulses in an upper-middle class upbringing in Christchurch’s aptly named Pleasant suburb.