We have a winner …

After a random draw,  the winner of the copy of Christchurch Dreaming is OisO. We will be in contact to get your prize to you!

Her favourite image in our collection is “A horse with cart is watered at Armagh Street Bridge, Christchurch : Provincial Buildings and Supreme Court at left”:

Thanks to those of you who shared your favourites:

Roy chose these two  image “Princes Street Bridge, Woolston (now Rutherford Street), looking east” and “The old Rakaia combined road & rail bridge : at right the new road is under construction”:

 

Jan chose this image of “Cashel Street Christchurch, looking west toward the Bridge of Remembrance “:

And sweetasnzgirl chose this fab pick of a 1960s musical interlude in New Regent Street:

 

Window-shopping in the city of memories

The Images collection on the CCL website is one of my favourite places for an idle trawl, especially the costume section. Among the showier treasures there is this little gem featuring a shop window, circa 1967. The caption reads “Vance Vivian, their menswear store, either in the Government Life Building, Cathedral Square, or in Surfside Mall, New Brighton”.

Everything about this photo is ’60s perfection: the diamonds surrounding the lettering of Vance Vivian, the manliness of the mannequin’s  jaw, the floral arrangement, the brand names featured - remember Rembrandt?

Why was it called Vance Vivian? In the 1960s I think they had a trendier off-shoot called The Vault, possibly also in the Square or in the recently demolished Manchester Unity building. The Vault had its very own poster done in best ’60s Yellow Submarine style, a poster that graced my bedroom wall for some time, not because I had bought any menswear from the shop, but because it was so cool.  If only it had been digitised.

And Surfside Mall – just the name brings back memories of the days when New Brighton was the only suburb to have Saturday shopping. The road went straight down to the clocktower and there would be bumper to bumper traffic, especially on Easter Saturday.

What shops still stand in your city of memories ?

 

Christchurch evolution

The Christchurch of July 2011 is a very different city from the Christchurch of July 2010. But while recent changes have been dramatic, Christchurch has always been evolving.

The library has several collections that let you discover the many faces of our city through the years. There are beautiful books, such as Gwenda Turner’s Christchurch, and Christchurch Changing by Geoffrey Rice, and there are some wonderful hidden gems in our online collection:

• Heritage images of early Christchurch and Canterbury;
• Digitised historical maps (click on the link below the images to zoom in on specific areas);
• Christchurch Buildings & Landmarks guide, which details the stories behind many of our city’s landmarks;
• Architectural Heritage of Christchurch – an occasional series of titles published by the Heritage team of the Christchurch City Council;
• The Christchurch Timeline – very handy for keeping track of what happened when!

If these resources whet your appetite, don’t forget to also search the library’s catalogue for more publications about Christchurch and Canterbury. Try the following searches:

• Christchurch (NZ) — History
• Christchurch (NZ) — Pictorial Works
• Canterbury (NZ) — History
• Canterbury (NZ) — Pictorial Works

I have just placed a hold on Canterbury – The Big Snow, 1992 to see how different Christchurch in white looked then and now.

What other gems showing our city and region’s history would you recommend?

 

And then there were 196 …

Nations, that is. The latest, South Sudan, is not even a month old, having officially been ‘born’ on 9 July 2011.

It is undeniably trivial, but, as a librarian, one of my first thoughts was of the atlases that now need updating.

I have always liked maps – an interest no doubt fostered by the year I spent at intermediate school sitting facing a wall-size map of Africa. While the teacher droned on, I’d listen with half an ear, while my mind would take off on flights of fancy, flitting from the mosques of mysterious Timbuktu to the markets of Zanzibar.

I’d follow the path of the Nile from its source at the centre of the continent, near that tantalising line that signalled the Equator, past the pyramids in Cairo to Damietta and Rosetta where the mighty river fans out to meet the Mediterranean Sea. And I’d wonder at the bravery of those first explorers who, prior to the opening of the Suez Canal, ventured to circumnavigate Africa to reach the fabulous Spice Islands.

It’s difficult to fathom the many ways in which Africa and the world have changed in the twenty or so years since I sat daydreaming in front of that map. And I’m not thinking only in terms of political changes of borders and placenames. As we have recently been reminded, the earth is constantly transforming itself: mountains rise, sea levels fluctate high and low, and rocks crumble. 

• Find out more about South Sudan with Gale PowerSearch, one of the many online resources available for free in the Source.
• Search BiblioCommons for books on the Sudan.

 

The further confessions of a happy snapper

You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and you can’t turn a poorly composed, badly lit, out of focus photo into an award-winning photo. That doesn’t mean I don’t try.

The libraries‘ computers have Picasa. This free download is so easy to use, and is designed to be a photo sharing tool, however I use its photo editing capabilties as well. These are divided into three categories: ‘Basic fixes’,’ Tuning’ and ‘Effects’.

‘Basic fixes’ allow me to do things like crop, correct red-eye and straighten the horizon. ‘Tuning’ is for changing the amount of shadow and highlight. ‘Effects’ allow me to be a little bit creative. I like using Soft Focus, which blurs the background, while keeping the main focus of the photo sharp. I also enjoy using  Focal B&W. It retains the colour in the centre of the photo, and the background fades to black and white. Picasa is something that you can click around and experiment with. If you need help, find books on Picasa at your library.

If you want a whole lot more than what Picasa has to offer, you might like Photoshop. I had Photoshop on my old computer. I would spend ages cropping and colour correcting my old photos. Then I would turn them into oil paintings.  To get the most of Photoshop, you need a manual. The library has quite a large selection; just make sure you choose one that matches your version.

Remember one thing, you can improve your photo to a certain extent with photo editing and you can have fun with special effects, but sometimes the best thing to do is use delete.

 

A photographic treasure trove of Canterbury’s past!

The Christ Church Cathedral under construction, looking at the east arch from Worcester Street, Christchurch (circa 1880)

At your library, we’ve taken great care and time to capture our province’s past. Browse our fine collection of online photographs – they show just how far we have come – and might serve as inspiration for the future.

Our website contains a vast collection of material on Caterbury’s history – did you know the Christ Church Cathedral lost its spire three times in separate earthquakes between 1881 and 1901?

• Explore heritage information at will online or at any of our open community libraries.
• Try Ti Kōuka Whenua for pre-European history
• View more images of the cathedral and Cathedral Square

 

The importance of being silent

It is  the 11th hour of the  11th day of the 11th month.

Be silent.

Contemplate this – and other – images.

Continue until 11:02.