Vintage NZ Photography

The first known photographs taken in New Zealand were taken during the mid 1800’s and were initially sold primarily to new settlers who created the demand. Most photographers operating in New Zealand in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were running commercial operations and while they may have aspired to creating art, the bottom line was that their photographs needed to be what the public here wanted. From 1901 the Government started commissioning and employing photographers to provide images that sold picturesque and ‘exotic’ New Zealand abroad, both to tourists and to the settler’s families in the mother countries.

The growth of photography as part of the technical evolution coincided with the growth of New Zealand as a nation. Because of this, aspects of New Zealand’s vintage photography can also be viewed as a visual chronological survey representing a form of exploration as well as documenting changes in development. From the gold mining towns to the more mature settlements, from the thermal regions of the North Island to the Alps of the South Island, the photographers recorded the land, its people and the progress of a nation.

Just as importantly, many of New Zealand’s vintage photographs are a living witness to Maori and the dignity they retained. Also, once familiarity with the medium grew amongst Maori communities, photographs played an important role in Maori society. Intimate knowledge of the past and those who peopled it is an essential part of this culture and so photographs of ancestors became treasured taonga and were displayed in meeting houses and at tangi.

Noble nineteenth century photographers - John Kinder, Daniel Mundy, Alfred Burton, Charles Spencer, Josiah Martin and George Valentine - added to or made their reputations with exceptional images of the geothermal zone in the period before the June 1886 eruption of Mt Tarawera (or the Pink and White Terraces). Alfred Barker, Josiah Martin and James Bragg ranked aesthetically and historically with the best known names in world photography.

John Leech Gallery recently released 'Out of Time: Maori & the Photographer, 1860 - 1940'. The publication by John Gow and Michael Graham-Stewart showcases more than eighty vintage photographs, many previously unseen, which are thoughtfully reproduced with accompanying text.

See Also: Represented Artist: Patrick Reynolds