Sunsets, sea and landscapes

Press, 10 February 1988, Page 23

Sunsets, sea and landscapes

Vai Pollard is refreshingly frank about her photography exhibition which opens on Friday at Several Arts in Colombo Street.

Photography, says the G.P. registrar, is a hobby. She has no intention of swapping medicine for a career on film.

She was prompted to stage her first exhibition because she enjoyed taking photographs and the photographs she took. Other people liked them also and after selling a few to friends she decided on an exhibition.

The 24 photographs in the show are all of South Island scenes that she has taken since returning to

New Zealand to live 18 months ago. She has called her exhibition “South Island Perspectives.”

“I take a photograph because I like what I see. I point the camera at it and see what comes out.” What has is a series of sunsets over sea and landscapes in colour. Vai Pollard sets her Canon AE 1 on automatic and has all her prints developed commercially. “If people like a picture, I have the negative to get more done.” She chooses a scene because of its colours and light. Sunsets have a special fascination, first experienced when she

worked on the West Coast for three months.

“I like reflections and the play of colour and light.”

Her tramping allows her camera access to many little-known scenes. All of the framed and glassed photographs — most are 8 by 12, two are larger — are for sale. “It’s a bit of fun really, and to see what people think.”

One highlight of the exhibition for the doctor, who decided to emigrate to New Zealand after a holiday here, is that her parents will be in Christchurch during the exhibition. The show will close on February 25.