Symonds Street Cemetery is located near central Auckland City, next to Grafton Bridge. The Cemetery was originally five separate cemeteries of different denominations, and was only used for about 30 or 40 years in the eighteen hundreds. The cemetery hasn’t been up kept much, beyond an occasional grass mowing, and because the cemetery has not been used since the about 1890, everything is in a very old-school, victorian style.
I had been wanting to shoot this cemetery for a while. When I finally made it over there, I found the cemetery was much larger than I had realized, going down hills, and into the shadows. What I had thought was the cemetery, was really only the Jewish part of the cemetery, which only takes up about one fifth of the area.
Above is one part of an iron fence, with a tombstone behind it, covered in some red stuff. I found the varying stages of decay and dilapidation to be very interesting.
I would love to see more! I, too, find the colors and textures and lines of decay and dilapidation so rich and beautiful in their own way. Love the photo!!! And the verbal descriptions. Pretty soon, you’ll be thinking I had a pretty neat idea after all to picnic at the Gyde Road Cemetery! Hehe. And to think of all the abuse I’ve taken all these years from my three Moore men on the topic! XOXOX
Hmmm I don’t remember picnicing at the Gyde Road Cemetery…. here are a few more pictures from Symonds Street Cemetery. The weather has been raining non-stop lately, so I haven’t gotten outside much to take some new pictures. Hopefully soon.
Very interesting (and artistic) photos. I’m curious about the various types of decay/oxidation/moss/whatever on the metal and granite. There seem to be several layers: green, white, red. If the iron becomes red, then that could be rust (oxidation). The red is so vivid that I’m wondering what’s in the metal or granite and what’s in the air that makes these colors.
Hi there Josh,
I didn’t see your response to my DPR post (below) until just now. I’m amazed that we shot the exact same headstone in such a similar manner. Wow what a buzz.
Thanks & cheers
Stomie
Link to my DPR image post thread on Symonds St Cemetery: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=22557254
Josh, I’ve been tuning into your site regularly and have been enjoying your journey. I got my degree in art and do a lot of photography. So many of your photos, in particular these, have a tremendous aesthetic quality in particular in how you frame them and in their color and texture. Thanks for letting us have a window into your experiences and travels.
Glad you like the photos Marti. I didn’t know you played the bongos .
To anyone wondering what Stomie is talking about, I was googling for more info on Symonds Street Cemetery for this post, and found a post on a digital picture forum by him. He had shot the exact same shot from the exact same fence and stone (check his link) as I was using for this post. And it was only a couple of weeks before.
7 Comments »
Comment by josh — March 27, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
Symonds Street Cemetery is located near central Auckland City, next to Grafton Bridge. The Cemetery was originally five separate cemeteries of different denominations, and was only used for about 30 or 40 years in the eighteen hundreds. The cemetery hasn’t been up kept much, beyond an occasional grass mowing, and because the cemetery has not been used since the about 1890, everything is in a very old-school, victorian style.
I had been wanting to shoot this cemetery for a while. When I finally made it over there, I found the cemetery was much larger than I had realized, going down hills, and into the shadows. What I had thought was the cemetery, was really only the Jewish part of the cemetery, which only takes up about one fifth of the area.
Above is one part of an iron fence, with a tombstone behind it, covered in some red stuff. I found the varying stages of decay and dilapidation to be very interesting.
I may post more about this later.
Comment by Peg Moore — March 28, 2007 @ 6:40 am
I would love to see more! I, too, find the colors and textures and lines of decay and dilapidation so rich and beautiful in their own way. Love the photo!!! And the verbal descriptions. Pretty soon, you’ll be thinking I had a pretty neat idea after all to picnic at the Gyde Road Cemetery!
Hehe. And to think of all the abuse I’ve taken all these years from my three Moore men on the topic! 
XOXOX
Comment by josh — March 31, 2007 @ 12:17 am
Hmmm I don’t remember picnicing at the Gyde Road Cemetery…. here are a few more pictures from Symonds Street Cemetery. The weather has been raining non-stop lately, so I haven’t gotten outside much to take some new pictures. Hopefully soon.
Comment by Clara — March 31, 2007 @ 2:08 am
Very interesting (and artistic) photos. I’m curious about the various types of decay/oxidation/moss/whatever on the metal and granite. There seem to be several layers: green, white, red. If the iron becomes red, then that could be rust (oxidation). The red is so vivid that I’m wondering what’s in the metal or granite and what’s in the air that makes these colors.
Clara
Comment by Stomie — April 7, 2007 @ 11:56 pm
Hi there Josh,
I didn’t see your response to my DPR post (below) until just now. I’m amazed that we shot the exact same headstone in such a similar manner. Wow what a buzz.
Thanks & cheers
Stomie
Link to my DPR image post thread on Symonds St Cemetery:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=22557254
Comment by Marti — April 8, 2007 @ 8:32 am
Josh, I’ve been tuning into your site regularly and have been enjoying your journey. I got my degree in art and do a lot of photography. So many of your photos, in particular these, have a tremendous aesthetic quality in particular in how you frame them and in their color and texture. Thanks for letting us have a window into your experiences and travels.
Makes me want to pack my bongos!
Marti
Comment by josh — April 11, 2007 @ 7:06 pm
Glad you like the photos Marti. I didn’t know you played the bongos
.
To anyone wondering what Stomie is talking about, I was googling for more info on Symonds Street Cemetery for this post, and found a post on a digital picture forum by him. He had shot the exact same shot from the exact same fence and stone (check his link) as I was using for this post. And it was only a couple of weeks before.
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