Jul 252010
Jul 042010
A Friday night busker dressed in traditional Japanese garb. He seemed to enjoy the camera and attracted quite a crowd just before I left him to it. Queen Street next to Vulcan Lane.
Feb 012010
A group of late night bar patrons approaches the back of The St James Theatre. Once one of the most sumptuously decorated cinemas in Auckland, along with nearby Civic Theatre, The St James is now nearly derelict. A monument to a bygone era, its seating and projection booths are gathering dust.
Jan 142010
A busker rocking out on the corner of Queen Street and Wellesley Street.
My Top Six Drinks!
Architecture, Black and White, Portrait
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Jan 092010
A man walks past “My Top Six Drinks”, one of the many stores of its kind to proliferate during the past few years. This one is in the old Theatre Centre block, opposite the Civic Theatre, that used to house the St. James Theatre and a row of video game arcades. Most of it is now dedicated to restaurants, kebab shops and tea houses like this one.
Jan 062010
A girl pushes her friend past one of the numerous money exchange kiosks in the cities tourist shopping hotspot, the downtown district.
The edge of a giant poster for the current Coca-Cola campaign sits next to the sign for the Regent Cinema. The Theatre Centre on Queen Street used to house The Regent and The St. James Cinemas, with Cinema One, Cinema Two further down the street and Mid City Cinemas on the opposite side, one block down from The Civic Theatre.
These cinemas, some of them filled with the details of a bygone era, have now been replaced with the stern functionality of the modern day Sky City Cinema Multiplex building, the windows through which this photograph was taken.
When the older cinemas were in their heyday, queues for tickets to matinee screenings would snake all the way down Queen Street and sometimes up Wellesley Street. Now, you can purchase your ticket with a Credit or Eft-Pos card at an automatic ticketing machine.
Jan 042010
A couple walks up Elliot Street, behind Smith & Caughey’s, as the late afternoon sun fills the small lane. New Zealand’s oldest Department Store, Smith & Caughey’s was opened in 1880 by Marianne Smith as a drapery. The store has survived a depression and several recessions, continuing to trade in their historic building to this day.
Jan 032010
Queen street in the early hours of new year’s day, the only evidence of bad behaviour I found. For Auckland it was a relatively quiet night for the police.
Jan 022010
One of Auckland’s homeless playing a harmonica for bus money to Ponsonby. This photo was taken on new year’s day, about 6am on lower Queen Street. He was friendly and in good spirits “I’m just grateful they left me in peace” he said about the raucous party people celebrating throughout the night.