Mirja

My friend Mirja from Hamburg, Germany hosted a gallery show of her paintings tonight. All very wonderful of course.

“Three Weeks”

Finished up my final studio project today. Hung 100 photos on the wall in a Wolfgang Tillman order. My thumbs hurt from the 400 odd pins I stuck to hold them. My final exhibition was decided on because I wanted to take something from my real life. My travel and experience from my time spent abroad. My life is my work. So with that in mind I used my time in the south island as a base. Thus named “Three Weeks.”
Here’s my artist statement for a better understanding of the work, along with a few photos I’ll add to the end of this entry…
I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and at the age of twenty-one I decided to leave the country and move to New Zealand for six months. A much-needed holiday on an island most people don’t even know exists. Or even if they actually have heard, they think it is located in Europe and not the southern hemisphere where it presides.
It was due time for me to leave the nest and go out to embark on my own travels. Six months was a good length.
I’ll be honest, the homesickness never caught on. Maybe a smidge, but it was never enough to be calling home crying and saying I’ll be catching the next flight back to Kansas. I loved it here. There was no question about it. New Zealand was everything I ever wanted compacted into one little place and uncorrupted by the rest of the world. It was simply choice.
I’d always wanted to travel abroad. For once, experience what I’d grown up reading about in books. The pictures of other cultures, the landscapes of foreign lands are what deeply intrigued me. Studying the likes of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Martin Parr, Richard Misrach, William Eggleston, and Wim Wenders. I had grown intensely, and was overflowing with an urge to go out and discover what a foreign place could offer me. Looking with new eyes and insight, and to tell a story as a girl from Kansas could only tell.
I wanted to immerse myself in photography through travel and retain that intimate connection. So with school holiday in the midst three friends and I rented a van and ventured down to the south island of New Zealand, for what would be the road trip of a lifetime. Three weeks trapped in a van and bringing new meaning to a vagabonding experience.
Wellington, my first ever ferry boat right, Able Tasman National Park, the glorious western coast, Fox Glacier, mountainous Queenstown, etc. It was all just words in our travel guide. And with each passing day we began to really unearth what this heavenly place had to offer. We beyond doubt felt like children at Christmas with the big eyes and the surprises that lay under the tree.
Keeping a journal of every passing day. Photographing to the extent of filling up my friends hard drive, I realized that no picture or video could ever do true justice to what New Zealand appeared. It was then that I wanted to really step out of the realm of typical travel and really try and focus on my three weeks at hand. From the words of Max Pam my photographs aid memoir for a moment shared on the road. For each photograph is shaped by incidents experienced as a traveler, a record of an experience, and a personal account of an encounter somewhere in the world. My three weeks is not simply a photograph of a past but exists for each viewer as an experience in the present.

Rush

Attended the Rush gig tonight. Got hooked up with a backstage pass to get up front and takes some photos. [See it’s that networking thing again. Its true when they say it’s all about networking and the people you know.] Love this band business bull. I mean taking band photos is just a hobby of mine, a love for the music never the less. Maybe its just the musicians up there in that lighting or the since I can capture them for that split second in all there glory. I just grow a little more intense each show I photograph and really start to consider doing it as a profession. I mean going on tour with a band to document and create a tour journal would be ideal. Producing a book in the end. Ah the possibilities are endless. I guess its just Annie Leibovitz inspired

“Go Away Sam”

Since I’m leaving New Zealand for good in less then a week I decided to throw one last hoorah and host a “Go Away Sam” party for all my friends and well whoever else felt like attending. Plus I’m sure everyone needed a break from the stress of study week and exams coming up.

I know I need a break. I've pretty much locked myself in my cave the past week.

The Veils

Went to The Veils tonight. Got in like butter. Opening acts were quite good, always a plus. Was front and center, but the crowd was kind of nuts. Was so packed I could barely move my arms to take the pictures. The most obnoxious to me is these girls that come from the back and flirt there way to the front. I mean there is etiquette when it comes to territory at shows. Other then that nonsense The Veils put on an amazing performance. Finn Andrews so emotional when he plays you can just see the passion seep from his pores. New Zealand based they just got back from a tour in the states. Quite funny cause they set up base in Oklahoma.

Check them out and have a listen:
http://www.myspace.com/theveils
http://www.theveils.com

Dogs Bollix

Went and saw Midnight Youth play at Dogs Bollix tonight. The guys of course put on an awesome show, but I wouldn’t expect any less.

Met this guy named Mike who is a tour manager. He’s toured in the states so that’s how the conversation sprung. He started name-dropping like crazy asking if I knew Bush and Eminem (I mean who doesn’t know those guys) then rattled off the likes of some other famous musicians he had toured with. None the less impressive. I mentioned I wanted to go to The Veils, but didn’t know if I could get a ticket since it was so last minute. Then Mike was like, “oh I’ll give them a call, get you on the list, just email me in the morning.” Well of course I was like shooooot, duh okay. So emailed him that night and got a response the next day saying I was on the list. How rad is that? I mean seriously. I just love networking. You never know what will happen.

Waiheke

Davis, Ben, Jessica, and I took a ferry to Waiheke Island today. It’s about a thirty-minute ride from downtown Auckland. Plus you get this great view of the city as your leaving the bay. We couldn’t have wished for a better day. The weather was absolute perfection. The island is fairly small so we just walked everywhere we went. Would have been great to rent a couple scooters but they had none left. Hit the basic hot spots and ate at a famous fish and chippery. Then got to see a pretty sunset as we were waiting for our ferry back to Auckland.