NZ Visual Diary - entry 438

bonsai tree in an alley

A lovely Sunday afternoon put me in the mood for a train ride and a photography walkabout. I elected to travel by rail to Kingsland, an Auckland suburb that is home to Eden Park, New Zealand’s national stadium. Football (soccer) and rugby teams, including sell-out crowds for the All Blacks, play matches at Eden Park.

An elaborate stairway superstructure routes passengers from the train station platform to city street. At the apex of the stairway, I spotted a potential photograph in the alley below.

The side alley of a building, which is host to the Taiko Japanese Restaurant, contained what one might expect of an urban alley: an HVAC unit mounted on the exterior wall; the makeshift placement of an exhaust vent in a window pane with cluttered window ledge; various pipes and electrical conduits; and an ageing sidewalk.

The ornamental surprise, which alley ways often conceal to the less curious and observant pedestrian, included a pair of handsomely stencilled windows (perhaps depicting slender bamboo trees) and a very attractive potted bonsai tree - fixtures befitting of a Japanese restaurant.

While finding the proper angle from which to capture the image was difficult — there were numerous obstacles that encumbered my view — I am reasonably satisfied with the photographic outcome.