Six Word Saturday: small treasures outside the back door

Impatiens in my backyard. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

Product placement: portrait with chocolate milk

Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate Milk: a brilliant marketing campaign based on NOT putting product on the shelf. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014 Shot with iPhone4, frame applied from Pixlr Express.

When iconic Kiwi chocolate manufacturer Whittakers recently teamed up with newish artisan dairy food manufacturer Lewis Road Creamery to produce chocolate milk, the marriage of these two brands was apparently so successful that demand has massively exceeded supply and a whole marketing campaign has been built around scarcity, rationing and a “black market” in chocolate milk.

Not being in the target demographic, it’s a campaign that would probably have passed me by except that the FaceBook page of my favourite greengrocer/artisan grocer —  Boric Food Market — got in on the act. Then the boy-child started talking about it too.

Still not being quite aware of the extent of the shortage, I vaguely started looking for the stuff in Boric and my local supermarket, thinking I’d buy a bottle for the kid so he could tell me if it was worth the hype (and the price).

I still haven’t actually seen it stocked anywhere!

But luckily some lovely artist friends brought me a bottle for the boy while we were working at NZ Sculpture OnShore. It took a few hours before I managed to get it home to him, and I was worried about it spoiling, but — as the pics show — it was fine. Better than fine it seems. I’m told it’s the best chocolate milk he’s ever had. Given that I don’t really think of chocolate milk as a premium product, I’m not quite sure how great an accolade that is. But the demand is high, people are willing to queue for the one-bottle-per-person they’re allowed, and I just noticed someone sold two 750ml bottles on TradeMe (the local eBay) for $32.

Go figure.

Meantime, I had to capture some shots of the moment when the boy child enjoyed his gift.

Photo: Su Leslie. Shot with iPhone4, frame applied from Pixlr Express.

Photo: Su Leslie. Shot with iPhone4, frame applied from Pixlr Express.

Photo: Su Leslie. Shot with iPhone4, frame applied from Pixlr Express.

This post was written for Sally’s Phoneography and Non-SLR Digital Photo Challenge at Lens and Pens by Sally. You can join in here.

 

Old maps and new

Such a powerful sentiment; I couldn’t help but share it.

Wordless Wednesday: remember

The entrance to the ‘Scars on the Heart’ galleries at Auckland Museum. These galleries contain permanent exhibitions of NZ wartime past, including remembrance of our country’s war dead from the Land Wars of the nineteenth century to the most recent casualties in Afghanistan between 2002-12. Photo: Su Leslie (photographer of original image unknown).

Six Word Saturday: finding new life in unlikely places

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

 

Wordless Wednesday: having time to stop and look

Taken in the temperate house, Wintergarden, Auckland Domain. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014.

Waiting for the boy-child to complete his last exam yesterday, I visited the Wintergarden at Auckland Domain. The temperate house in particular was full of colour and scent – and tourists. And why not; it’s a wonderful place.

Body-subject, body-object: pictures from an exhibition #3

Lang Ea, Listen, 2014. Exhibited at NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

Piled in the entryway of an underground tunnel at a historic military site; Lang Ea’s cement heads – eyes closed, without ears – were for me the most powerful work at NZ Sculpture OnShore. Lang Ea came to New Zealand from Cambodia as a child, and this work, ‘Listen’ resonates with the imagery of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer past.

On the other side of a small glade, in another underground room, Sam Harrison’s ‘Gretchen’  leans against a wall. Exhibited at an event which raises funds for Women’s Refuge, this work inevitably suggest a strong emotional response, yet many visitors have been moved by the simple beauty of her form.

Sam Harrison, Gretchen, 2014. Exhibited at NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014.

Detail of Ramon Robertson’s Only in the World 2014. Background scuplture, Jamie Pickenell, Beach Master, 2014. Exhibited at NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

Ramon Robertson is a Scottish artist now living in New Zealand. His work often features plaster and concrete figures – apparently mass produced, yet somehow unique. The title of this work comes from French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s statement “only in the context of the world we inhabit do we know who we are and what our purpose is.”

Detail of Anna Korver’s The Three Sisters, 2014. Exhibited at NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

In contrast to the human forms depicted in the other artists’ work, Taranaki-based sculptor Anna Korver allows the garment to represent the form. She has developed a considerable body of work based on “the dress.” This piece in basalt is one of three that was exhibited at NZ Sculpture OnShore.

This post was written as part of Sally’s Phoneography and non SLR Digital Photo Challenge at Lens and Pens by Sally. This week the theme is black and white.

 

 

… and the dance goes on

Video shot and edited by Su Leslie, 2014.

As NZ Sculpture OnShore was closing up last night, I shot a little bit of video of Auckland artist Marylene Jackson’s wonderful installation “… and the dance goes on.” Marlyne makes wonderful chandeliers from found objects. At the exhibtion, they are hung in trees. I found the sight of one of her works blowing in the wind totally hypnotic.

 

Six word Saturday: hanging out for a quiet cuppa

The closest I’ll get to a peaceful cup of tea with the crossword until NZ Sculpture OnShore is over. Detail of Kevin McCardell’s ‘Best Seat in the House, 2014. Exhibited at NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie

It’s the last weekend of the exhibition. By 6pm tomorrow , we’ll be turning off the lights and waving goodbye to the stragglers after 10 full days of being open to the public. Anyone in Auckland this weekend — last chance to see an amazing outdoor sculpture exhibition that raises funds for Women’s Refuge.

Focusing on the intricacies of art

Bev Goodwin, ‘Rambler’ (detail). NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with PixlrExpress.

The challenge this week, at Lens and Pens by Sally, is to take macro shots. With most of my time at the moment taken up with the 2014 NZ Sculpture OnShore exhibition at the moment, it won’t come as any surprise that my photos are of sculptures – or at least details from sculptures. These are all works in the Officers’ Mess Gallery, and were taken on my phone in the quieter moments since we installed the exhibition just over a week ago. I’ve edited all of them to a greater or less extent to focus in on some details.

Marti Wong, ‘Dragon’ (detail). NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with Pixlr Express.

Karen Goa, ‘Crooked City’ (detail). NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with PixlrExpress.

Graeme Hitchcock, ‘Flying Ties’ (detail). NZ Sculpture OnShore. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with PixlrExpress.

Alexandra Donaldson, ‘Man Woman Emotion’ (detail). Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with PixlrExpress.