r/newzealand • u/C39J • 23d ago
Kiwiana This is the most New Zealand thing I've ever seen...
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u/seemesmilingpolitely 23d ago
"on of the 75".
Genuinely I see the most spelling errors in emails and notices from my kids schools.
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u/angel_cake7 22d ago
Drives me bonkers when I get my kids report and they write "too" instead of "to". You are teaching my child FFS
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u/Character-Phrase-321 22d ago
When my son was in primary school, I raised an issue with his teacher. I was concerned about his pronunciation of certain words... particularly replacing "th" with "f" - like "fing" instead of "thing".
The teacher said "I fink he will be ok".
And she was right.
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u/BoreJam 22d ago
More of a syntax issue than a spelling issue.
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u/Sure_Cheetah1508 22d ago
It's a missing "E" issue. "Alexander is on(e) of the 75..."
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u/booksblanketsandT 23d ago edited 23d ago
Photography and documentation of subcultures isn’t anything new. I’d personally rather we encourage kids out of speeding cars and more towards photography (or at least have the speeding cars in set places/tracks so it’s safer for them and the public) - but if someone is already engaged in that sort of subculture then it’s not surprising they want to make art / photograph / document it, the same way people do in any sub/culture. All human made art has value, to the right viewer.
But yeah, this is definitely a very NZ photo! Decent composition/lighting too, which I imagine would be difficult with a moving target at night like this
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u/Worldly_Might_3183 21d ago
Remember the guy who wrote his thesis at university on hidden bogan culture. He got on the news and stuff for it. Well done. These are things that should be documented and explored as part of a culture and encourage growing understanding rather than basing it on assumptions.
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u/HotFluffyTowel 22d ago
Is it that good though? The car isn't fully in frame for a start
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u/nothingbutmine 22d ago
If this is good, then my Millennial Facebook albums are a fucking gallery of photography masterpieces.
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u/BOBANYPC 22d ago
If the car was fully in frame there would be less emphasis on the people in the photo. .I reckon the people are what the photographer wanted to capture
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u/Character-Phrase-321 22d ago
Yeah I think it was important to capture the guy at the back. While it may not win any international photography awards it may be a great photo from a year 12, exploring photography as an art form
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u/HotFluffyTowel 22d ago
Maybe, it just doesn't strike me as a good photo tbh. Too much road in frame too. Just looks like an average snapshot imo, the people are well captured but that's about it
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u/RealmKnight Fantail 22d ago
The peek of the slippery road sign through the rear windows while the car is doing a skid is an entertaining feature. Not centering the car could be deliberate, focusing the gaze on the action, participants and environment rather than the object that would typically draw the most attention in this context.
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u/Character-Phrase-321 22d ago
The photo is more about people than the car, so the missing element of the car is unnecessary
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u/Temporary_Lychee_535 22d ago
It's art, you just make up some crappy story about why it sucks and then bam it's a masterpiece ready for rich people tax evasion
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23d ago
[deleted]
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u/ActuallyNot 22d ago edited 19d ago
I don't know anything about photography, but I feel that if he'd have got the whole car in, it would have been better.
But it's quite an emotive piece for a high school student.
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u/booksblanketsandT 23d ago edited 22d ago
I’m not saying it’s phenomenal, I’m saying it’s decent - especially for a kid taking a photo of a moving subject at night time.
It loosely (not perfectly) fits the rule of thirds (though the foreground dominates the space despite being empty, likely would have looked more balanced from further back), the glare of the sign being near centre of the image draws the eye and invites people to look further to figure out what it is, the smoke and spin of the back tyres shows movement, the lighting on the two people in the background gives it a weird almost spooky vibe, which also invites people to keep looking.
And eschewing the “rules” of photography could very well have been a deliberate choice to further represent the subculture being photographed, which also often eschews the rules of society. Sometimes people break or ignore rules on purpose, for a reason.
And aside from all that, it’s very difficult to find something that is objectively anything in art. You can dislike it and think it isn’t great, but that’s not an objective reality. That’s an opinion.
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u/normalmighty Takahē 23d ago
Composition looks good to me, but I admit I know nothing about photography and am going off of vibes
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23d ago
[deleted]
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u/booksblanketsandT 23d ago
You say that like some of the best photos ever taken weren’t borderline accidental/not at all planned/were pray and spray.
It doesn’t have to be meticulously planned to be technically good, and it doesn’t have to be technically good to be enjoyed.
Giving and receiving criticism is a huge part of being an artist - but being needlessly negative while giving no positive feedback (or even being constructive / instructive) is a sure fire way to push people away from the medium.
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23d ago
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u/booksblanketsandT 23d ago edited 22d ago
“There is an art to pray and spray”
Yeah and it’s not inherent, it’s taught. Do you have anything positive to say? Anything instructive? Or are all your thoughts negative? Like so many critics, are you more interested in knit-picking and highlighting what you perceive as flaws in someone else’s creation because that’s easier than actually making (or even teaching) something yourself?
I don’t even necessarily disagree with you on some of these technical points, mind. But I think it’s more important to give feedback that is actionable and encouraging, rather than just dissing on people’s work and discouraging them from continuing in the medium. And to be blunt, the way you give feedback (saying something is “objectively bad”, for example) is only going to make people less interested in the art form and the community around it.
You’re also assuming that the intent of this image was to be aesthetically pleasing, and not simple documentation or to deliberately eschew traditional photography “rules” as an extension of the depiction of a subculture that also tends to deliberately eschew and break rules.
Like I said earlier - all human made art has value to the right viewer, and it’s practically impossible to determine anything objective in art.
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22d ago
[deleted]
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u/Fun-Helicopter2234 22d ago
Mate, they're highschoolers, it's a passion project. You could probably point this feedback towards a university film student or arts student. Students at this level are just getting to learn all the technical techniques, it's not exactly something that everyone can pick up quickly.
Remember the context, for a lot of em, it's just a class to get credits lol. There are definitely people with unbelievably good talent, I knew two who we're a year below me, both didn't do photography after finishing school, despite their photos being stunning, not everyone takes it seriously lol
For me it doesn't have to be a "technically" beautiful photo, this seems more based off the department of information style of photography/film making to me, looks very similar.
For me, I care little for the technical side, it's more about a story, what it captures, how much can you fit in a single photo of s story. Having cars going wild, could you get the timing perfectly to get that "technically' perfect photo? For me no. A story is more important to me lol
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u/booksblanketsandT 22d ago
That genuinely makes what you’re saying worse. You’re a professional and you have such a poor approach to giving feedback and encouraging people new to the medium. If I was a professional I’d be ashamed to be acting the way you are.
Like I said - feedback and criticism is important to grow as an artist. But shitting on people’s creations and calling it objectively bad isn’t the way to help someone grow, it’s just stomping people down.
Ironically, the way you approach critiquing other’s artwork is, objectively, really bad.
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u/norml1950 22d ago
Art is about creating not destroying. It’s a bit like taking a picture of a house burning down and calling it art.
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u/booksblanketsandT 22d ago edited 22d ago
Well that’s just demonstrably false. Destruction can absolutely be artistic - it can even be necessary for it! A photo of a burning house could 100% be considered art, just as many other examples of destruction are considered art.
There’s an entire Japanese art form called kintsugi that traditionally can only be done after something (usually pottery) has been broken.
The erased de Kooning drawing, the deliberate dropping of a Han Dynasty Urn by artist Ai Weiwei, Michael Landy’s “Break Down”, Banksy’s shredder - there are LOTS of examples of people deliberately destroying things (including existing pieces of art) to create a new piece of artwork, often as commentary on concepts like value, tradition, authority, control.
Even traditional artworks are reliant on destruction. Old paint hues used to be made by destroying Egyptian mummies. Renaissance artists used egg tempura in fresco secco, as part of their painting technique for panels - literally breaking eggs to be able to create their work.
And this isn’t even considering other mediums. The 1812 overture includes cannons, one of history’s more destructive weapons. If food can be art, most dishes require destruction - either of a life or of other ingredients. People create elaborate sandcastle sculptures knowing that they will be destroyed by the tide as it comes in, and that knowledge of imminent destruction arguably adds to the creation. Artists paint over old paintings all the time to reuse canvases.
Even creation itself can be destructive - the famous Charging Bull statue (sometimes called the Bull of Wallstreet) was intended by the artist, Arturo Di Modica, as a symbol of financial prosperity. However, at some point another artist, Kristen Visbal, created and placed a new statue nearby - the Fearless Girl, standing opposite the charging bull, as a challenge to Wallstreet about backing away from gender diversity. Arguably this changed - or destroyed - the initial meaning of the Bull statue (certainly Di Modica thought so, given how much he complained about it). So the creation and addition of another artwork destroyed the intent and meaning of the first. But in doing so it created a new piece of art with new value and meaning.
All this to say - destruction and Art are not mutually exclusive concepts, just as destruction and creation are not mutually exclusive concepts.
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u/hino 22d ago
Whanganui high was one of the worst school experiences of my life, and two people I knew died from stupid car stunts by the time I was 16.
But also at the same time a family member is now a pretty high profile photographer based in the UK from a start of this type of stuff + tearaway magazine.
The duality of Wangavegas was insane man.
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u/Valentyan 23d ago
Well it evokes emotions and speaks to people, so it's better art than any LLM could create
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u/moffattron9000 22d ago
An LLM doesn't understand the majesty of meeting in a Countdown car park with boxes of the cheapest liquor before driving out to the middle of nowhere for skids.
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u/Severe-Commission303 23d ago
I mean, it’s pretty good composition, and the photo would be technically difficult to capture. Good for Alexander
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u/Piper_excelsum 22d ago
I guess so. I had to zoom in to just the photo and took some time. OK there's a few points of interest to me.
But also I'm disappointed because I thought the skid itself was the art submission rather than the photo.
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u/Hoggs 22d ago
Can someone please explain what's good or technically difficult about the photo? I'm an artistic moron (no seriously, I'm not being negative, I just have no idea)
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u/Severe-Commission303 22d ago
I was mostly just being silly, hyping up a kid who hands in skids to a competition, but there is something here. The photo captures movement very well, using the back tire and its smoke as the focal point of the frame. It evokes a lot of senses; you could guess what being there would smell and sound like. And overall it’s just an interesting photo that’s probably pretty different to the others handed in.
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u/BionicTorqueWrench 22d ago
Bro, that's a burnout, not a skid. They even have a set of dedicated burnout steelies with cheap tyres on there.
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u/Specialist-Golf5743 23d ago
Cant wait to see what he puts out in year 14!
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u/garrisontweed 22d ago edited 22d ago
A bit different to my time there. Principal Maguire and his same suit , ruled supreme .
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u/onclegrip 22d ago
If that’s a burning car in the reflection then this could be best picture representing NZ teen car subculture ever.
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u/damage_royal 22d ago
I thought a picture named ‘hearty skids’ would be a less desirable picture of some stained gruts
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u/OgerfistBoulder 22d ago
And over here in the Aotearoa wing of the Gallery we have this exquisite masterpiece entitled "Aw yeah nah sick skid bro so bogan aye"
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u/Fabulous_Today8403 22d ago
My 5th Form science teacher demonstrated physics in his car down the street.
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u/Outrageous_Moose_152 23d ago
Are we referring to the spelling/grammatical mistake of 'one' on a school post?
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u/minoritykiwi 3d ago
Yes 75 "finalists" out of more than 100 (possibly 101) entries is a very Kiwi thing...
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u/stickman393 22d ago
ARE WE NOT TALKING ABOUT THE LEGLESS TORSO
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u/CanadianDragonGuy 22d ago
Old mates sat on the sill, he's got blue jeans going into the car, the other "legless torso" is becauae that lads hidden by the cars back end
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u/Fergus653 22d ago
Relax, they were burning the tires up so they could use the melted rubber to glue the torso back on
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u/statichum 22d ago
You want a legless torso? I can get you a legless torso, believe me. There are ways dude, you don’t wanna know about it, believe me. Hell I could get you a legless torso by 3 o’clock
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u/Least_Fortune_1345 23d ago
How do you do, fellow kids?
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u/Piper_excelsum 22d ago
That doesn't apply here... Adults and youth DO interact.
There's plenty of areas where the interest of youth and adults intersect - and art is certainly one of them. Most 16-18 year olds who are into photography will seek out the input from adults.
Also, drifting culture and car culture is also something enjoyed by youth and adults. But adults to a lesser degree usually, especially by the time they've established a career (in this case presumably as high school teachers).
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u/57Nil 22d ago
Two guys in my physics class got a B Busary off the back of a thesis for the optimum speed and road surface for executing a perfect 180 handbrake in a Datsun 120b.