Southern Topographics

Southern Topographics is a project that focuses on some of the more obscure buildings and towns in southern New Zealand and takes part of its name from a 1970’s US exhibition “New Topographics” seen by some as a turning point in photographic history and gave a name to a new highly validated approach to landscape photography – a shift from fine art to contemporary approaches.

There are so many places I have driven past multiple times never glancing at the landscape – too busy going from A to B or back. Milton is the classic town for this until one day the light was right, struck a building at the right angle and suddenly I saw the place in a new light. This has led to multiple trips to small towns exploring the obscure back roads looking for the beauty waiting to be found. I learnt a lesson that day in Milton – don’t judge on first appearances – stop and look around.