Taranaki by Andy Palmer

Andy Palmer, Taranaki, 11 June 2003.

One of the things I like about photography is its ability to capture time. Usually it is a fleeting moment that is never repeated. It may gain significance over time, maybe even become historically important. But a camera can also be used to capture a longer period of time, like the rotation of the earth demonstrated in the faint star trails in this photograph.

This long-exposure photograph of Mt Taranaki is one of my own favourites, in particular because it shows Mt Taranaki and could be read as a reference to the Parihaka comet photograph and to Laurence Aberhart’s Taranaki from Oeo Rd – one of his many great photographs showing Mt Taranaki.