(Cutting Down the Kauri)

We do not know whether Cutting Down the Kauri, a portrait of bushmen at work, was made within the Waitakere Ranges or somewhere else in the Auckland region. Yet, it is representative of a category of industrial photography which is uniquely local in its content. The title was not the photographer’s, but an inscription by the original owner of the photograph, and was probably written during the late 1880s.

Josiah Martin took his view against the light, so the silhouettes of the surrounding trees are distinct. However, the inconsistency of the emulsion indicates that this is probably one of Martin’s early wet-plate images. Certainly, the way the two workers brace their standing position and the blurred foliage indicates the use of a lengthy exposure.

See more detail about this artwork