Beauty of New Zealand’s landscape inspired legendary photographer’s career
Sunday, 30 January 2022
The beauty of New Zealand’s landscape inspired Andris Apse’ photography career.
The legendary landscape photographer’s “defining moment” came aged 18 while exploring a largely untouched Fiordland area, where he was left “absolutely spellbound” by its beauty.
“I knew then and there … I was going to be a photographer.”
The award-winning photographer and New Zealand Order of Merit recipient is hosting an exhibition at Stoddart Cottage Gallery in Diamond Harbour from February 4 to 27 to celebrate his return to Canterbury, after 22 years photographing remote parts of the West Coast.
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Born in Latvia in 1943, Apse spent five of his first six years of life in a refugee camp in Germany before emigrating with his mother to New Zealand. He spoke zero English when he arrived.
“I was totally hopeless. I’d hate to learn (English) now, when you’re younger you pick things up quicker.”
Opportunities as a teenage forestry trainee to explore Nelson, the West Coast and Fiordland in particular sparked his desire to showcase remote landscapes in their rawest forms.
Over the years, Westland National Park, Stewart Island and the subantarctic islands were among his favourite photography locations for their “growing, collapsing, rugged, extreme” nature.
“Places like that feed my imagination for dramatic interpretations of the landscape.”
Planning for most of Apse’s photographs takes years. Showcasing a terrain in its prime means analysing it and deciding the exact right time of year to take the photograph.
The season, weather and time of day are a few factors considered, and his dedication stretches as far as climbing ladders and setting up platforms in trees to sit and wait for the perfect shot to arrive.
He became a professional photographer in 1969, initially combining landscape photography with other genres, before making it his focus by the 1980s.
His images have featured in publications like The New York Times and he has produced a number of books showcasing the regions he has photographed.
His numerous accolades include the New Zealand Order of Merit, honorary fellowships of the New Zealand and Australian institutes of professional photographers, Olympus international photographer of the year and winner of the animal behaviour section of the UK Natural History Museum’s International Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
Despite the accolades, one of his proudest moments came when a father and son drove halfway across the South Island to the West Coast and sought him out. The pair were avid explorers and were so moved by his work that they had to tell him face-to-face.
“He admitted to me that it made them cry. That was the biggest compliment I could ever have … they travelled, asked for me and found me, all to tell me how much it meant to them. That’s worth more to me than any amount of money.”
After being based for some years in Ōkārito, Apse has recently relocated to Diamond Harbour.