#waiwera

[holliano]

Haere rā Waiwera Hot Pools :(

[dame-de-pique]

Burton Brothers - Pohutakawa Tree - Waiwera, c.1880

[omg-lucio]

Las tropas de Nueva Zelanda destinadas a Sudáfrica y la Segunda Guerra Bóer se preparan para abordar el SS Waiwera, el 21 de octubre de 1899.

[laurenpomfrett-ardn632-2024]

Week 11 - Reflective Statement

‘Is this the end of the road?’ is a photo series that speaks to the economic downturn of rural establishments along the Twin Coast Discovery Highway in Auckland. In 2023, State Highway 1 opened an extension that took an alternative route, away from the Discovery Highway1. This has impacted this region’s rural towns and businesses, from the decrease in visitor traffic. Puhoi and Waiwera, in particular, have experienced closures such as the Waiwera Hot Pools2, which was demolished in 2023, and the Puhoi Cheese Factory3, which closed in 2022. 

It was important to highlight these authentic stories through documentary photography, “a style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events.”4 My mission was to show compassion and create an opportunity to showcase these hidden rural beauties. 

I took inspiration from documentary photo books, ‘Abandoned America’5 released in 2014 by Matthew Christopher and ‘The Ruins of Detroit’6 released in 2010 by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. These spoke to the state of America’s grand architecture from the 20th century, which has been left to decay into oblivion. Colour treatments of saturation were employed to enhance the atmosphere and create feelings of nostalgia, whereas areas of desaturation signified decay. This created a sombre and reflective mood, encouraging the viewer to consider the weight of their neglect. 

Similarly, Chris Corson-Scott created a photo series ‘Monochrome Palette’7 in 2024. His real estate photographs utilised desaturation of colour to evoke an emotional response. The pale grey overcast skies and white modern frontages created feelings of mundaneness and their lack of originality makes us consider the direction of the New Zealand real estate industry. 

This inspired my position on photo manipulation, where I focused on amplifying the vibrancy of the colours such as the green tones in the grass, and the blue tones in the sky, to alter the viewer’s reaction. This aimed to create lively, quirky and optimistic compositions, where they ask more questions than they answer, to leave room for personal interpretation. 

Additionally, through sequencing and annotations, the representation of a road trip creates a personal journey, where the final destination in the future is paved, but not as one would hope. The dark contrast in the colour treatment of the final image is prominent when the shocking reality of the economic downturn is on full display.

The title, ‘Is this the end of the road?’, contains subtle undertones regarding the end of the imagined road trip, and the end of economic life linked to the Discovery Highway. This creates a call to action for viewers to want to change the final destination. 

The politics of photo manipulation and its balance between truth and lies are important considerations. In 2021, Photojournalist Jonas Bendiksen released the ‘Book of Veles’8 and created a compelling narrative based on the North Macedonian city of Veles. With his strong legacy of validity in the photojournalism industry, his photo series, which included 3D-generated avatars and objects, was seen as true. His manipulation created false ideas of misfortune, decay and crime in the city of Veles. 

I learned the power of photo manipulation, where if there is enough visual evidence, even a contradictory narrative can deceive many. 

This example emphasises the importance of deeply considering the usage of photo manipulation and Artificial Intelligence, for it can change a viewer’s sense of reality. As generated media becomes cheaper and more efficient, it creates a real possibility of untrustworthy ‘fake news’ that can damage our view of the world. The surge in Artificial Intelligence highlights the desire for real-world photography. From this, my stance on manipulation aims to tell real stories of real places and to support a positive sense of reality in a region experiencing hardship. 

This creates a longing to revisit these rural towns for their unique character, beauty and historical significance. Rural establishments will always have a place in New Zealand, and their legacy must be kept strong and alive.  

[milestoearth]

Greta and Valdin

Greta and Valdin 4⭐️

First half feels flat. The idea is brilliant tho, two quirky and gay siblings navigating the troubled waters of young adulthood, solitude, work, deceptions and love affairs... Half the story in, I started to like it more. An ok book, but I expected much more. It would have been brilliant if the writing style was different.

Quotes

Having OCD is so stupid. I wish I had something cool, like double joints or purple eyes. I feel as if the pathways in other people's brains are like well-maintained Department of Conservation hiking trails, while mine are modelled on the dodgiest slides at Waiwera Thermal Resort after it was shut down.

.

I wonder what plant I would be, if I were a plant. Maybe something with big leaves that droop sulkily if not provided with the exact right amount of water and light.

[codyslucidimage]

Best Photos

One of these will be my hero image!

In my opinion, my best photo from a technical standpoint, the lighting and framing is perfect and the quality is high.

I feel as though this is my best photo from Waiwera from a technical standpoint, my most interesting setting choice. It looks very ominous and fits my theme perfectly.

I feel as though this photo is more interesting than the others in it's composition and details. Alot more is going on, and that could make it more interesting when blown up.

[life-around-me-yura15cbx]

Favolaschia calocera, commonly known as the orange pore fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae. Due to its form it is also known as orange pore conch or orange Ping-Pong bat. Throughout much of its expanded range F. calocera is now considered an invasive species. It colonizes ruderal sites along transport routes and can become dominant in habitats disturbed by human activity. Mycologists fear that it may be displacing native fungi species as it spreads through the paleotropics. Фаволаскія калоцера

Waiwera, Auckland, New Zealand

FP67+PG Waiwera, Auckland, New Zealand

-36.5382000, 174.7138000

[thebeths]

Waiwera, Aotearoa (December 2022)

[airyairyaucontraire]

Interesting new development in a story I've been following for a few years. Highly illustrative of how it corrupts us to court the money of foreign billionaires and how little it really does for our country - in this case, we've gained nothing that lasted and lost a thermal resort that everyone loved, and it's anyone's guess whether it will ever be revived.

[alilaro]

seeing childhood places in ruins is...... kind of an Aesthetic

[1995lahaine]

i also know a few people who were knocked to near unconsciousness at aotearoa new zealand’s most famous and revered (now closed) water park, waiwera hot pools, because there was a slide there designed to go pitch black and do a 90 degree turn after its VERY fast first drop which generally caused kids to smack their heads very hard against the slide and be spit out into the water deeply disoriented and at risk of drowning. insanity

[holliano]

Heartbreaking.

[ozinflatablekayaks]

📞 Reality called, so I hung up and went kayaking 🤪 📸 Marie-Claude 📍Waiwera River 🚣🏻‍♀️ AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite Kayak

[ispywithmythirdeyeofficialbct]

This blog isn't as easy to create on the app. Perhaps I need to understand the nuances to this vaguely familiar interface, or just do my posts outside of the app.

Yesterday was our first day in studio, of BCT2020, and I was late to the lecture, because I thought we started at 10am, although I still made it on time relatively before any actual learning started.

We made some papertronics after a brief introduction, and I decided to be by myself as I always do, since small workload situations can have too many inputs which jumbles even the simplest of ideas. My papertronics included a small red LED, copper tape, a 3V circular cell and of course paper. My switch was using a slightly conductive metal plated chopstick that was held in place by copper tape while the actual switch was my house key that pivoted by a wall pin as the papertronics circuit needed to hang on a wall. The housekey I believe was partially non conductive as well as the chopstick having to travel along very worn metal plating, although the circuit would have a lot of lost energy due to resistances, the LED still managed to be perceptible in a lit room.

Although my university life's has only just begun, I can feel the darkness of a wave approaching. So much force is looming, where I have to sacrifice many of my seemingly well ingrained virtues to survive the next few years.

I live in Waiwera so every morning my commute is about 1.5 hours, so to get to school on time is not a struggle but it is restrictive, and by the time I get home I am needing to decompress myself before I can complete anything productive. The fact that i have to decompress at all is really disturbing for me since im usually so in balance with my energy but university really makes me rethink everything i have learned, (as always..)

I've been looking for a suitable home to live since before I returned to NZ in January but so far my search has only been for homes that only just don't fit the bill.

The biggest thing for me this week is feeling like the whole system is tightening it's fists around me and my soul and turn me into something I'm not. My family are always a great reflection of that and so is society in general. But this week really is like putting a squeeze on my light that I usually radiate to all around me.

DONT YOU EVER TELL THE SUN TO SHINE MORE LIKE THE MOON.

And I feel like I'm a star in someone else's night sky, twinkling yet so distant, and only seen in the most profound and interconnected divine reawakenings we have throughout our lives.

I'm not a twinkling star. I'm everything I'm made to be, and I won't settle for less. Sure place your rules on me to create what YOU need when YOU need it in, but I'm going to do my best to pour my heart into it like everyone actually wants. Not an aesthetic, not a dream, not some halfway but the real deal. That's me. I'm a reflection of all things but my brightness isn't to be defined by the luminosity of another but the integrity of my heart.

[laurenpomfrett-ardn632-2024]

Week 11 - Photo book layout

These are RAW files, but I just wanted to experiment with the InDesign layout for my photo book. At the moment, it contains 18 photos, but I may condense this to create a more concise presentation of only the best shots. I think I will know better the selection when I try edit them and see how they look. I have left a space on either the left or the right to contain a photo title, small caption and other footnotes such as page number, my name and the photo books name 'Is this the end of the road?' for continuity. I have flipped the sequencing to either the left or right when the photos feature a new location. All of the photos for Waiwera will be on the same side, and then when it changes to say Puhoi, it will sequenced on the other side. I have decided to end with the 'punchy' closed sign, to create a shocking hit of reality. The colour treatment will be very different to the rest of the compositions.

[mikewilsontravels]

#newzealand #teararoa #waiwera #hibiscuscoast #rockyshore #toughgoing #540km