Captain James Cook, Voyages of Discovery in the Pacific
250th Anniversary Of Cook's Voyage
In 1769, Captain James Cook became the first European to land in New Zealand and claim it for the British crown. He led the Endeavour and its crew in a circumnavigation and mapping of the two main islands of New Zealand, completing the journey on March 31st, 1770.
I attempted to photograph locations in New Zealand that Cook had highlighted in the Endeavour logbook but found that pre-existing monuments and commemorative plaques made this difficult. Instead, I chose to walk along the Cook route and capture images of the monuments and plaques around the islands of New Zealand. Additionally, I took pictures of specific locations mentioned in the Endeavour logbook and those named by Cook and his crew.
I used 6x7 cm medium format camera and negative film and the Hasselblad Xpan to shoot extreme panoramic formats.
The project was funded by the Stiftung Kulturwerk of the Verwertungsgesellschaft Bild-Kunst, Germany.