Travellers Guide

Its hard to beleive that a North Islander would become the first person in the world to photograph South Island’s Caroline Bay and publish a pictorial book about it. I first set foot on Caroine Bay in Timaru in 1963 as a 23 year old South Island tourist. Little did I know then that I would marry a South Island women bring up a family in Timaru and eventually become the first person in the world to write a pictorial book about Caroline Bay with over 400 photos in it. Little did I know then that at 70 years of age my photography work woud be rejected by the Timaru hierachy and I would be forced to knock on doors begging money from people to pay for the printing of the book. Little did I know then that the local newsmedia would refuse to reveiw the book or even interview me about it. Mind you they were the days before emails when you knew that if you wrote someone a letter you would get a reply. They were the days when your photos were printed out and you kept them in a photo album.
Recording History
The Caroline Bay book that I have published will eventually become a valuable historic document provided I can find someone in Timaru who cares enough about the history of their town and are willing to give me a hand.

I had read in the local newspaper that a young man had built the largest piano in the world. I love to meet people who think outside the square so I had a desire to met this young man with the veiw to photographing the biggest piano in te world. He phoned me and I met with him in the shed that houses the biggest piano in the world.

Why did you  it?
This was my first question and he ansered, I did not set out to build the biggest piano in the world. I learnt that every piano has its  own sound and the bigger the piono the better the sound. I asked my music teacher what would the sound be like if we stretched a piece of wire longer than its ever been done befoe. When I did this I got a sound which was different to any other sound I had heard from a piano before. My next challenge was to build a piano case to house my long pieces of wire.

What inspired me?
The fact that a 16 year old boy had used his curiosity to ask the question why and then he set about to find the answer.  I had taken some photos of this geneous young man with  his creation of the worlds largest piano and I told them I was going to publish them in a book. He asked when the book would be published and I could not tell him because I have no funding for the book and no way of promoting it. I have been trying to sell my promotional books on the internet but no one is interested in buying them.

Timaru Time Capsule
I am working in the country at the moment photogaphing every thing that I think will be interested to readers of my books. In a small country town called Cave I found a large rock and on it were these words   NEAR THIS SPOT THE RESIDENTS OF CAVE AND ITS ENVORONS CELEBRATED THE MILLINNIUM 1999  – 2000
A TIME CAPSULE IS BURIED HERE TO BE OPENED IN THE YEAR   2100

That was my Answer.
If I am spending thousands of dollars of my own personal money photographing things that are happening in the community and no one in the community wants to pay any money for the books then why don’t I bury them in a time capsule for people to enjoy in 100 years time.. My books are all in plastic presentation folders so the paper and ink will keep well. People who wanted to be remembered in 100 years time could  make a donation to the cause have their name or photo published in the time capsule.