Carols in the Park

In the above photo, a flute teacher leads three of her pupils. They are playing for about 600 people who sat in the park to listen to items with a Christmas theme here in Alexandra. Led by the local Baptish Church, it turned out to be a very full program, with plenty of variety. And when you consider that about 10% of the town's population turned out to watch and listen, you could regard it as a great success. We live in a very talented community.

Profiter Roll Tower

Chef asked me to take a photo of this Profiter Roll Tower.
This is made with many Cheux pastry balls filled with cream and custard. They are stuck together with chocolate, with spun toffee over the top to hold it all together.
It looked very impressive.

Sutamam

This photo was taken on Christmas Day. We went to my brother in laws place for Christmas dinner, and I took this photo not far from his house.
These little things are known as Sutamam. They are native of New Zealand and they are very rare. They are mostly found in the parts of this country where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. (So much of New Zealand was covered during these movies that Middle Earth is also known as New Zealand.) Anyway, I can not remember if these wee guys appeared in the movies or not, but maybe they should have.
These guys make no sound at all. They have a coat that is so thick and coarse that it is difficult to tell one end from the other, and very hard to see any features. When you look at them, they do not move, but rather freeze on the spot. I have in my life time seen very few, and this was by far the most I had ever seen in one place. A group of them is called a 'gully', and there is no plural of the name. In some areas of the country, further north from here, they are sometimes called 'Mealamu' and I am led to believe this is because they operate very close to the ground.
If you see any of these sutamam, you should get in touch with your local Dept. of Conservation office. They are always pleased to see them.

The Value of Photos

With the advent of the Digital camera, many archivists and historians warn that there will be a gap in the recording of the human story. Less than 1% of photos taken are printed these days, many not lasting longer than a few seconds as the 'delete' button is pressed. There have always been gaps in the human story, and before photography came along there was a very big gap. Only the famous and wealthy were recorded. Mind you, an artist who could paint a fairly accurate (or at least flattering) portrait in an afternoon was in great demand and usually made a good living.
The above photo was taken about 1889. The original was made of tin, a daguerreotype. It was taken at Otter Ferry, on the shores of Loch Fyne, Argyle, Scotland.
At the time, some one thought it was a valuable thing to have. The children were cleaned up and dressed in their best, hair done etc. It was not a casual or every day event.
Sometime later, someone has thought that it was valuable, and carried it all the way from Scotland to New Zealand.
Many years later, I have found it so valuable that I have photographed it many times over, to distribute around my family.
Now, my children think it is priceless.
In the above photo, my great Grandfather Robert Lamont holds his son, Donald, and sitting beside him is his daughter Jessie, and then his wife Margaret McCallum, who is holding my Grandfather Archibald. On the right are daughters Maggie-Anne and Amy.
Get your family photos printed. Then your great great grandchildren will know what you looked like, and who they look like.

Small Schools

Over the last week I have been busy photographing the last of the schools I do for the year. It means I do a bit of traveling, and see some parts of the country that I get to only once a year.
The above photo is the complete roll and staff of the smallest school I visited during the year. I have been coming here for some years and have seen the roll change up and down depending on who owns the farms in the district. I think the most I ever saw here was 27, and the least 5.
Because I am one of very few photographers who will do some of these very small schools, I tend to get them all, which is not really in the best interests of my bank account. On the other hand, why should small remote schools miss out on the services other schools take for granted.
For a few years in the late nineties, I had the feeling that the Ministry of Education was following me around, and closing schools I had just photographed. Over a two or three year period I think I lost 13 this way, and did not always get the 'new' bigger school that resulted from consolidations. On the other hand I did not try very hard, as I always seem to have plenty to do. The real question is though, have these consolidations been good for the children in the system. There is no objective way of answering this, but what I can tell you from my own experience is 'no, these consolidations are not in the best interests of the students, or their communities'. And I will stick to that. As time goes on, and transport becomes more expensive, I will be able to say that the 'savings' earned will be wiped out as well.
The parents of the above students just know that though they are very isolated, their children are getting the absolutely best education possible. They tell me that. Does such a thing have a price?

The Twenty First 3

This cake, made by the Chef, is a Mississippi Mud Cake. But the reason I did this close up photo is to show the colour and design of the fruit used to decorate it. The trick is, according to the Chef, is to get the chocolate icing warm, but the fruit slices cold. When the fruit is pressed onto the icing, it goes hard and holds the fruit in place.
This seems to work just fine, but Chef does admit to sometimes using jam to glue the fruit on.
This cake was used as the 21st Birthday cake by the Central Otago Regional Orchestra, and was very popular. It is very rich, so you do not need a big piece, so there was even some left over.

The Twenty First 2

Nan Brownlie, John Wilson, Sheila Kerr and Bette Wilson are Life Members of the Central Otago Regional Orchestra, and here they are pictured cutting the Orchestra's 21st Birthday cake. I think they are enjoying themselves.