NZ visual diary - entry 10

construction workers on break

Two gentlemen from Auckland rest in front of the Bard's tavern enjoying a respite from their labour helping to build Auckland's City Rail Link, its first underground rail service and the most ambitious transportation infrastructure project in New Zealand's history.

They had been watching me as I surveyed the stretch of Albert Street and considered the photogenic potential of its commercial buildings. They were no doubt amused that amidst the rubble of an unearthed street, its craggy crevices surgically exposed, I would be looking for something of beauty to photograph.

When I turned to them and returned their gaze, it seemed fitting and proper that I ask them, the material architects of the street's decomposition, for their willingness to be composed in portraiture. They enjoyed the ask, I savoured the retreat from architectural photography.

Labour's love found sitting in a city's street.