NZ Visual Diary - entry 367
Sandringham Shops bus stop
I was riding the number 24 bus to a rally for women’s pay equity sponsored by the Mt Roskill Labour Party. Having left early for the rally in the hope that a photographic opportunity would present itself along the bus route, I decided to hop off the bus at the Sandringham Shops bus stop, taken as I was by the area’s visual appeal. Of the dozen photographs I captured in my stroll about the retail area, two images were stand-outs.
Strong tonal contrast and dynamic forms are the bedrock of successful black&white photography, and today’s image of a home at the edge of the business district proved a worthy exemplar. In rich visual language the house illustrates two elements of visual prose that I find especially satisfying: stunning tonal contrast combined with powerful lines (diagonals) and forms (triangles) that introduce and underscore intense visual tension and drama.
Of the second image: Beyond the charm of colour and curve present in the photograph of the Sandringham Public Toilets lies imaginative eccentricity and nobility of public purpose in the provocation of public works as worthy art object. Perhaps the preeminent example of such a proposition is found in Kawakawa, a city in Northland Region of New Zealand. The Hundertwasser Public Toilets are a tourist destination. Furthermore, and illustrative of public works elevated to art form, the Kawakawa Hundertwasser Public Toilets installation is listed as a Category 1 historic place by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Lastly, and by way of more modest contribution, I attempted in a previous blog entry to render as photographic canvas a utilitarian public toilet structure located in my home precinct of Wynyard Quarter.