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Teen Blog

Reading, Wellington, and whatever else – teenblog@wcl.govt.nz

Tag: Photography

Come and do some art at Newtown Library

We’re super stoked to be working with the kind and talented folks at VIVITA to run all kinds of cool events for kids and teens around the city this year. During the last school holidays, they ran a seriously awesome and engaging 5-day workshop on board game creation at Johnsonville Library (check out the video below), and next on the agenda is TRASH ART at Newtown Library.

Yep, you read right. Trash Art. Inspired by the work of phenomenal photographer and environmental activist Mandy Barker, who gained great notoriety in the art world for taking plastic pollution out of the Pacific Ocean and turning it into incredibly intricate photographic sculptures, VIVITA has decided to run a global series of events around turning trash into art, to raise awareness about plastic consumption, its harmful effects on the environment, and how we can fight back. In New Zealand, this is all boiling down to a one-day workshop at Newtown Library on Saturday 5 June, 10am – 1pm, where you’ll go on a journey (literally, like, outside) to capture the good, the bad, and the ugly of consumption and waste in our community, and bring that waste back to the library to turn it into art. What you create will be captured by a professional photographer and included as part of an international exhibition across 8 countries (including New Zealand) in September this year.

The event is totally free, but you do need to be between the ages of 9-15 to attend. If you’re keen, make sure you click here to register, because spots are limited and they are disappearing fast!

Check out Mandy Barker’s incredible work by visiting her website to see what kinds of wondrous things you will learn how to create, using our very own local trash in Newtown.

Click Happy Live: Free Photography Workshop for Teens!

We thought we’d help you celebrate the end of Term 1 by inviting you along to Click Happy Live, a free photography workshop run by master photographer Mandi Lynn, winner of NZ Creative Photographer of the Year 2017. Mandi came along to Te Awe and Kilbirnie Libraries earlier in the year to run this same workshop, and let’s be real, they were super awesome, so we’re thrilled to be able to welcome her to Johnsonville Library as well. Here’re all the deets you need to know:

Where and when?

Johnsonville Library, Sunday 11 April 2021, 10am – 3pm

What even is it?

Click Happy Live is a free photography workshop for young creatives aged 10-22 with an award-winning photographer! This workshop is especially for those who believe that photography and the creative arts can be used as a tool to make themselves — and the world — better. You’ll learn practical photography skills while taking part in creative challenges that will help you to build your personal style as a photographer or as a creative activist. You’ll also get a chance to win a scholarship to participate in a one-term masterclass and one term of professional mentorship with master photographer Mandi Lynn.

So how do I do the thing?

What are you waiting for? To find out more, and to register to take part, just click right on here. We can’t wait to see you there!

Photo of a smiling young man holding a DSLR camera

You could be as cool and chill as — if not cooler and chiller than — this guy! Photo courtesy of clickhappy.org.

Free Photography Workshops Coming to a Library Near You

Welp, 2020 is finally over. New year, new me, fresh slate, blank page, all that. We thought we’d celebrate the beginning of a brand new year by inviting you along to Click Happy Live, a series of free photography workshops in our libraries, run by master photographer Mandi Lynn, winner of NZ Creative Photographer of the Year 2017. Here’re all the deets you need to know:

Where and when?

Te Awe Library, Tuesday 19 January 2021, 6 – 8pm
Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library, Saturday 30 January 2021, 10am – 3pm
Johnsonville Library, Sunday 11 April 2021, 10am – 3pm

What even is it?

Free photography workshops for young creatives aged 10-22 with an award-winning photographer! These workshops are especially for those who believe that photography and the creative arts can be used as a tool to make themselves — and the world — better. You’ll learn practical photography skills while taking part in creative challenges that will help you to build your personal style as a photographer or as a creative activist. You’ll also get a chance to win a scholarship to participate in a one-term masterclass and one term of professional mentorship with master photographer Mandi Lynn.

So how do I do the thing?

What are you waiting for? To find out more, and to register to take part, just click right on here. We can’t wait to see you there!

Photo of a smiling young man holding a DSLR camera

You could be as cool and chill as — if not cooler and chiller than — this guy! Photo courtesy of clickhappy.org.

Youthspective

Wellington City Council is running a photography competition for 10-18 year-olds in March. You can win a camera, and maybe even get paid for your photos to be added to the Council’s collection of stock images. Paid! Win! Two appealing words. All you need to do is take photos that captures your youthperspective of Wellington.

It runs from Saturday, the 13th of February, to Sunday, the 14th of March. There is a free photography workshop on Saturday, the 13th of February , here, at the Central Library, at 1pm.

There is more information to be found here.

Read More

Into Photography?

Are you studying Photography or just keen and naturally talented? We asked Françoise, library staff member and photographer, about photography books and resources and she’s given us a list (yay, list) of recommended reading and viewing.

1 The Genius of Photography, by Gerry Badger (770.9 BAD)
This landmark book explores the key events and images that have marked the development of photography. What is it that makes a photograph by Nan Goldin or Henri Cartier Bresson stand out among the millions of others taken by all of us every single day? The Genius of Photography examines the evolution of photography in its wider context: social, political, economic, technological and artistic. A great reference book on this evermore influential artform.

2 A Century of Colour Photography, by Pamela Roberts (770.9 ROB)
This comprehensive collection offers fine examples of the art of colour photography, covering every major technical and artistic development in colour photography over the last 100 years, since the Lumière brothers made the autochrome process commercially available in June 1907.

3 Contemporary New Zealand Photographers, by Hannah Holm & Lara Strongman (770.9931 CON)
Designed to accompany the exhibition that toured New Zealand in 2006, this book is a must for anybody interested in photography today in New Zealand. All the major contemporary photographers of the country are featured here with text and some key images. An essential reference.

4 Magnum (779 MAG)
Founded in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and other eminent photographers, Magnum is an agency of elected photojournalists who independently photograph what they choose rather than what they are assigned. Regarded as the best of their profession, their images can have a lasting impact on viewers and be truly inspirational. Magnumdegree is a book about history and humanity, journalism and art, offering a vision of the contemporary world at the beginning of the new millennium. It contains over 600 colour and black-and-white photographs by 69 Magnum photographers, including original contributions from Cartier-Bresson.

5 Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography, by Ute Eskilden, Florian Ebner and Bettina Kaufmann (779.2 STR)
The street allows photographers to conceal cameras and catch subjects unaware, in informal settings. By contrast, the studio permits both photographers and subjects to present carefully composed images to the world through elaborate staging and technical tricks. Street and Studio provides a revealing look at the history of photography through the contrasts and tensions between these two traditions.

6 The Polaroid Book, by Steve Crist and Barbara Hitchcock (779 POL)
In existence for over 50 years, the Polaroid Corporation’s photography collection is the greatest collection of Polaroid images in the world. Begun by Polaroid founder Edwin Land and photographer Ansel Adams, the collection now includes images by hundreds of photographers throughout the world and contains important pieces by artists such as David Hockney, Helmut Newton, Jeanloup Sieff and Robert Rauschenberg. The Polaroid Book, a survey of this remarkable collection, pays tribute to a medium that defies the digital age and remains a favourite among artists for its quirky look and instantly gratifying, one-of-a-kind images.

7 Digital Photography Masterclass, by Tom Ang (775 ANG)
One of Britain’s best-known photographers, Ang has hosted a popular BBC TV series called A Digital Picture of Britain and won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. In this book, the author teaches how to look at the world with a photographer’s eye and offers tutorials, photographic assignments, and step-by-step image-manipulation exercises. A perfect introduction for budding photographers.

8 Fashion & Advertising, by Magdalene Keaney (778.92 KEA)
In these workshops, World’s Top Photographers discuss and explore the technical and artistic aspects of photographer: lighting, composition, colour, tone and imaging. Stunning images and in-depth interviews plus checklists and tips-and-hints panels make this book a beautiful and practical manual.

9 Henri Cartier-Bresson in India, by Henri Cartier-Bresson (779.9954)
From 1947 through the 1980s, founder of Magnum, Henri Cartier-Bresson photographed all aspects of India’s multi-facetted society, from refugee camps to the Maharaja of Barodea’s birthday celebration. His gift of observation and connections infuse all these photos, revealing the essence of a country that has captured the world’s imagination.

10 Handboek: Ans Westra Photographs, by Ans Westra, Luit Bieringa and Cushla Parekowhai (770.92 WES)
Born in the Netherlands, Ans Westra came to New Zealand in 1957. In a few short years she was to embark on her life-long photographic journey documenting the lives and cultures of New Zealanders. This book is an in-depth insight into more than 130 documentary images by one of the most influential photographers of this country.

11 Life, by Lennart Nilsson (779.949611 NIL)
Lennart Nilsson took the first image of a living human embryo in the 1960s and stunned the world. Life is an amazing book of images documenting human life from DNA through fetal development and birth. The second half of the book focuses on the human body, its organs, tissues, and the things that eventually threaten life – bacteria and viruses. Science meets Art in this incredible journey to the centre of the human body.

12 Pictures from the Surface of the Earth, by Wim Wenders, Peter-Klaus Schuster and Nicole Hartje (779 WEN)
For many years, famous German Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Buena Vista Social Club) has taken an old panorama camera along with him on his travels. The result is a collection of landscapes and cityscapes, photographs of architecture and nature where few humans appear, taken in the United States, Japan, Australia, Israel, Cuba and Germany.

13 Africa, by Sebastiao Salgado (779.996 SAL)
This stunning book, entirely in black and white, is a photographic document of Africa by Sebastiao Salgado, but also a homage to the history, people, and natural phenomena of this continent. Renowned Mozambique novelist Mia Couto describes how today’s Africa reflects the effects of colonisation as well as the consequences of economic, social, and environmental crises. Moving and inspiring.

Françoise has also kindly subcategorised them for us like so –

  • General (Historical, Overview, Theme): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
  • Techniques, How-to: 7, 8
  • Individual Artists: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
  • New Zealand: 3, 10

Want more?
Visit the library Art Resources page for books, magazines, useful websites and other tools, including art-related online databases. Oxford Art Online, for example, is great for searching for biographical information on famous photographers (you’ll need to enter your library card number and surname to access).

Astrophotography

If you’ve ever seen the sky at night – the moon rising over Lake Taupo, say, or maybe you can see what might be Venus –  and thought to yourself, “that looks awesome, I should take a photo of it”, and you do, but the photo just looks like toothpaste on your best black top and you can’t understand why, then hurry to the Central Library tonight. Hurry!

Would you like to take photographs of the night sky? Not sure what to use or where to begin? John Field from the Wellington Astronomical Society will explore and explain how to use your Digital SLR camera and software to produce images that were previously beyond the scope of amateur photographers. Topics include what you need, how DSLR cameras work, what settings to use, how to polar align your mount using a DSLR, taking unguided images using a tripod, piggy-back and prime focus imaging through using a telescope, and image processing using freely available software. John will also include both the good, the bad and the ugly images he has taken to show what can go wrong and what you get when it all goes right

That’s happening tonight (May the 13th) at 7pm on the second level of the Central Library.

Take some photos and enter a competition

The New Zealand Schools Photographic Competition is the largest photographic competition for students in New Zealand and it’s been around for about four years. Entry is free for anyone in New Zealand who is at a primary or secondary school (or is home schooled).

The top prize pack includes a digital camera, a canvas reproduction of the winning photo, a certificate and a trophy. We like trophies. Check out the website for more information (excuse the flash stuff).

The theme this year is “celebrate!”. Entries for this year close on 31 July 2009, so download the entry form (pdf) and grab your camera and start celebrating phototaking.

And go see some photos (advance warning)

Te Papa has got a display of some of the finalists’ photos from last year’s batch, so you should check them out. The display is from 1 April to 31 June 2009 (at the Angus Rooms on level 3).