Sam Sampson & Peter Madden at the Ivan Anthony Gallery: March 3 – 31, 2012

 Level 1, ANZ Building Corner East Street & Karangahape Road, Newton, Auckland

Continuing their collaborative efforts, Sam Sampson & Peter Madden(right) will be exhibiting a tribute poem, and two works on paper remembering Geoff Moon, naturalist & bird photographer: 1915 – 2009, plus a number of other works. 

Sam Sampson (photo left by Harvey Benge) writes about the origins of the poem...  

 'In 2004 Bob Harvey and I tossed around the idea of a Laureateship programme for Waitakere City. In 2006 Hamish Keith came on board, and after establishing a selection criteria 12 Waitakere City Laureates were chosen. Each had done something exceptional, and had in some way been connected to the West of Auckland, and in many cases the Waitakere Ranges. One of the laureates was Geoff Moon, the New Zealand naturalist and bird photographer who had taken amazing photos all on a still camera, pre-digital (the most famous, probably of the Kingfisher diving into a pond then exiting with a fish in its beak). This was the first instance captured on film of the nictitating membrane, a covering that protects the eye on impact with the water.

I sat next to Geoff at the inaugural laureates’ dinner and found him to be one of the most humble and interesting people I have met. He was then in his 90s and still as dedicated, and passionate about bird photography and teaching people about the art of bird photography. I’d read an earlier book by Geoff, where in the introduction he’d said something, like: 'if you want to see birds, just sit down…be quiet, relax'. And that’s what Geoff did when photographing birds. His technique was to sit for hours inside a ‘Hide’, these were small home made tents: canvas sheets over light wooden frames that could be transported easily in the boot of a car, or roof rack. Once Geoff had found a nest, he would slowly build a frame to support the hide, or position the hide such that the birds would become familiar with the structure (erecting it a few metres away, then progressively moving it closer at intervals over a few hours or days). When using a hide it was necessary to have an assistant walk, or sail away from the scene after the photographer is installed and set-up. When this is done, the bird being unable to count, thinks the intruder has departed and returns to its normal duties at the nest.

When Geoff Moon died in 2009, I went back to his books and decided to write a poem; a series of snapshots which mixed Geoff’s observations, personal recollections, and bird photography. These could be called footnotes to the primary poems, which are Geoff’s incredible photos. The ‘I’ in the poem moves between the recollections of Geoff Moon, the images captured by the camera lens, and my own voice mixing the two.

The title of my poem is ‘Three White Mice for a Box Camera’, and is taken from one of Geoff’s recollections, where he records that his first (box) camera was obtained by exchanging three white mice for a box camera owned by a school friend.'

To find out more about the exhibition and gallery, visit Ivan Anthony 

To find out more about Sam Sampson's poems and collaborations, visit Sam Sampson