Get Featured: Carl LaMaitre
Carl shares with us a little project about how the earthquake in Christchurch NZ has changed the city and how the city has evolved since the devastation. Check it out.

Christchurch “red zone”
This was at the end of a round trip of the south island with my wife last year. Not knowing the full extent of the damage that was inflicted on christchurch we arrived around midday with every thing in full light so nothing was missed on the drive in.

Most of the outer lying suburbs were not that bad with only small dwellings that were unaffected buy the earthquake. The first effect i seen of the quake was on the first morning i woke in the camper van park.
There is a phenomena that happens during quakes called aquifers, its when the water table is affected buy the movement of the plates and pushes water up to the surface causing flooding in low lying areas or in this case anywahere. most of the city was flooded, including almost all of the underground car parks and basements.
In the CBD which is now referred to as the “RED ZONE” was of limits for a long time with unstable larger building waiting to be accessed buy engineers.

By the time we arrived most of the building were begining to be rebuilt or demolished, but i also witnessed how the local people were coming together to get on with their daily life. there was an abundance of street art, installations, street graph, murals and a pop up mall.

This was in the middle of the CBD and its made out of shipping containers. book shops, pizza shops, clothing shops and even banks, all engineered out of shipping containers.
Nothing will stop the people of christchurch to reclaim their home, even though they lost 168 of their friends and family.

There is a new life to the city and it keeps growing out of the rubble.
just to take the piss … their bus system shits on that of Sydney! and half their roads area FUCKED!

It was amazing to witness.

I switch between film and digital depending on what i’m shooting.
If i have the urge to make photographs, film is the only way i can see to do this. If i’m just shooting day to day stuff digital seems to be way to convenient. As far as on going projects again film has a “deeper” feel to it.

With gear i don’t tend to latch on to cameras and more let my financial situation govern what i shoot with.
The Christchurch project was shot on a Leica MP with a Konica hexanon 35mm F2 with expired kodak E100vs.
ATM im shooting with a voightlander R2 ( the old version) with the leather pealing off. but it feels so right.
you don’t have to worry about the camera & just focus on shooting.
i also have a nikon D610 with a few AIS lenses 24mm f2.8 / 35mm f2 /50mm f1.2. i can cover most thing with this set up. For the “nights out” i have a Ricoh GR. amazing little piece of work.

Also i run a small underground surfboard shaping business on the northern beaches.
No advertising, purely for locals only, so the offer is still there if you want to drop in for a surf.

Thanks mate
Carl LaMaitre

lemeat.wordpress.com
instagram.com/carl_lamaitre

Thanks for sharing your work with us, Carl. It is amazing to see how the people have adapted. I went to Christchurch many years ago and loved the city. It was saddening to see the devastating quake. But it is cool to see new hope too.

Come on, share with us what you have and get yourself featured.
Click on this link and send in your project/work: Get Featured. *I am looking for mainly projects, not individual images*
Oh, and click here to see a few of the photographers that have been on the site before https://www.japancamerahunter.com/?s=featured

Please make sure you come and comment, polite and constructive critique is welcome.
Thanks
JCH