Camera’s view of the Coast

Press, 29 May 1981, Page 17

Camera’s view of the Coast

A new book on the West Coast is the work of a man who has taken pictures of regions ranging from the snow wastes of the Arctic to the lush jungle of Fiji.

John Burford has been taking photographs since he was 15. For two years he was a dentist in the Canadian Arctic. and he took many photographs there. Back' in his native New Zealand, he has been a dentist at Greymouth for a number of vears.

His new book, "The Coast and the Coasters,” began with his frustration at being unable to buy a suitable book about the region for a friend overseas. Over the years he has been capturing on film the glorious scenery of the Coast and the individualistic character of its people. The Coasters have become used to him as a man who always has a camera with him.

He is himself an enthusiastic Coaster, having gained the headlines in 1979 when he led a counter-environmental-ist campaign that called for the setting up of a national park in the middle of. Auckland. It was a reaction, he says, to conservationist demands that were threatening the livelihood of many Coasters.

When in the Arctic, John has to nurse his camera near his skin to stop the film from freezing and becoming brittle. Once the camera froze to his hand. In the other extreme he has carried his camera through the jungles of Fiji during Army exercises (he commands an infan-

try company in the Territorials). His photographic skills have also been useful in illustrating articles he has written on dentistry. John Burford has won a number of awards in New

Zealand and overseas for his photographs. The "Coast and the Coasters," an 80-page photocolour essay, published by Whitcoulls Publishers, was released for sale this week.