Answering The Centaur question on Racing Photos

[Murray Fish]

 

 

The Cetur wrote "Perhaps you might have the answers. How far back do photographing operators (not photofinish) keep their negatives or prints for reproduction if connections of winners etc. wish to place an order. ? "

Hi, it really depends on which district you are talking about.

The best collection that is held together is the one now in in the hands of Peter (the wanker) Rubry (as two face as you get) at Race Images in PN. That collection was started by Ken Lush, originally Photopress, then ken sold out to a bloke in Chch, Kennard, who brought out  Colin Berry in the Chch, and Grant Peters in North, Race Images was formed. Then he sold them back.  Sitting here now, doh, cant recall the date Ken started, kens father Pat started Friday Flash and the Trainers Assoc.

After that, it gets a bit complicated!  as in each district people came and went.  You had Clarry (doh forgot is last name) who use to take photos in CD and produced a monthly? Tipping Booklet. When he retired, he burnt his lot  (lol, that what I think about doing one day with my lot)

If you go to the dep south, just this century, about 5 photographers have come and gone... all using the wrong business model!  all folded.

Talking NZ Newspapers and photos,  different papers have collections.

And of course there was the scandal around the Fairfax Collection that was sent to USA to be scanned  and the company went bankrupt! and the collection was sold off in their ligation sale!  that lot have been slowly auctioning off various historic photos, charging a arm and a leg. I will post more on that later.

There are some photos in the late (great) Peter Bush collection, one of his daughters manages those now a days.

And of course there was the scandal around the vandalism of the great collection at the ARC!!! bad storage! sigh.. 

Hope that is of help, am  slightly tire here just now, If more come to mind I will post.

[Murray Fish]

The Centaur wrote  "Also did you notice at some tracks photos would come out far clearer with more depth. e.g. Matamata and Foxton.?"

Good question! Its were the sun is shining from. SUN brings out the best results for horses photos, 100%.

The key to that is to have Strong sun coming over your right shoulder for a left handed track! and over left shoulder for right handed track.

Hence Trentham is the BEST track to take photos at by 100 miles and that is why more 'historical shots' have been taken there and printed and used for publications.

The worse track to take photos at on sunny day is Wingatui, I was there on Monday (I've put some up on my facebook page f you want to have a look), the sun in coming from inside of the track.  Its way better now using digital cameras and you can then twink them way better that the old school film. Hence very few historical photo used from that track,

Riccarton is the same, sun from the inside. and of course there are changes depending on what time of the year, The arc changes as the season change.

Re up North, it was that long ago that I worked there and didn't really work long enough up there to make a proper comment.

My Fav Track by a Million miles be Trentham! 

[Murray Fish]

Untangling the Fairfax archive saga as more found scattered in North Island

9:38 pm on 26 January 2024 

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Peter de Graaf

About 1.4 million historic photos from leading New Zealand newspapers were shipped to the US as part of an ill-fated digitisation project. Photo: Duncan Miller Gallery

It is one of the great debacles of New Zealand history-keeping - an irreplaceable collection of more than a million photos capturing key events and people in the nation's history almost ended up in a rubbish dump in America.

The photos were part of the Fairfax archive shipped to the US in 2013 in an ill-fated plan to digitise the media company's vast image collection.

They included pictures from leading newspapers such as The Press, The Dominion and The Waikato Times.

However, not long after the prints arrived in the US, the company contracted to digitise the photos, Rogers Photo Archive, ran into financial and legal strife.

The firm was placed in receivership while the photos were left to moulder and almost taken to the tip.

Eventually, a photo gallery specialising in historic images bought them from the receiver, and now they're being sold, bit by bit, back to New Zealand.

But it turns out not all of Fairfax's photos were shipped to the US.

For reasons unknown, part of the collection never left Aotearoa and instead ended up scattered around the country.

One such case is The Northern News archive, a treasure trove of photographic prints, negatives and newspapers dating back to the Kaikohe newspaper's first edition in 1919.

Although still published once a week by Stuff, its current owner, The Northern News has not had an office or staff of its own since 2015.

None of its last three editors knew where the archive had ended up. At least one feared it had been lost forever, most likely at the bottom of a landfill.

Enquiries by RNZ have, however, revealed much of the newspaper's archive survives, split between Kerikeri and Auckland.

Diana, Princess of Wales, hongis a young woman at Eden Park during a royal visit in 1983. Photo: Duncan Miller Gallery

The saga goes back to 2012 when Kaikohe photographer Debbie Beadle had a verbal agreement to digitise The Northern News photo archive.

Beadle did not charge for her work but was allowed to retain, sell and display digital copies. The negatives were returned to The Northern News after scanning.

That was in contrast to the deal struck between the then-Australian-owned Fairfax and Rogers Photo Archive, in which the US company retained and was permitted to sell the original prints - in fact, some photos started turning up on Ebay even before digitisation was finished.

Beadle said she was motivated by a fear the photos would be lost as the newspaper downsized, and a desire to preserve local history and make it available to Northlanders.

Many of the photos lacked caption information so she set up a Facebook page where the public could identity people or events.

She had scanned 43,000 negatives, starting from 1972 and working her way towards the present, when she was contacted by Fairfax's then general manager for Northland and ordered to "cease and desist".

Beadle was told the images had been sold overseas and that a staff member would arrive within half an hour to collect the negatives and her scans.

She believed the Northland photos were to have been sent to the US in a second shipment but that never happened.

It is not clear if that was due to controversy about the plan or because Rogers Photo Archive was by then already in financial trouble.

Surf lifesavers march during the national championships at Ōakura Beach, near New Plymouth, in 1981. Photo: Duncan Miller Gallery

When Northern News editor Malcolm McMillan retired in 2012, Fairfax management told him the archive would be looked after.

As well as folders of negatives and boxes of sports photos, his office held bound copies of every edition of the newspaper dating back to 1919.

"I was given an assurance the archive was going to be well taken care of, because it was so unique … But then the whole lot just disappeared," he said.

At one point Shaun Reilly, a former Northern News photographer, took the photo collection to the Pioneer Village, a local history museum, because he believed that was the safest place.

He also wanted the images to stay in Kaikohe if the newspaper closed down.

He was, however, over-ridden and the images were returned.

The Northern News office closed down in 2015, with the newspaper subsequently run from the office of its sister paper in Kerikeri, The Bay Chronicle.

The Northern News archive was reportedly shifted to Kerikeri but Keri Molloy, The Bay Chronicle's editor at the time, said she had not seen it since the Kaikohe office closed.

Fairfax, by then rebranded as Stuff, shut the Kerikeri office and laid off its remaining Far North staff in 2018.

RNZ contacted Daniel Miller, the gallery owner in Los Angeles who now owns the Fairfax archive, to ask if he had The Northern News' missing photos.

Miller said newspapers included in the collection were The Press, Sunday Star Times, Manawatu Standard, Southland Times, Taranaki Daily News, Timaru Herald, Waikato Times, The Dominion and The Evening Post.

As far as he knew, no Northland photos were shipped to the US, but it was possible some were mixed up with images from bigger papers.

RNZ did, however, find part of the archive at Kerikeri's Procter Library.

Far North Libraries local history specialist Fiona Jenkins with part of the Fairfax archive which has ended up at Kerikeri's Procter Library. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf

Fiona Jenkins, local history specialist for Far North Libraries, said she was offered copies of The Northern News going back to 1919 when the Kerikeri office closed down.

"We would've dearly loved to take them, but we just don't have the room," she said.

What she could take was about 10 boxes of photos - mostly of sporting events with little identifying information - as well as negatives in paper bags and indexed contact sheets.

Jenkins said she was gradually digitising the photos and sharing some on the Procter Library's Facebook page in an effort to identity them.

The most significant photos were posted on library's history portal, Recollect.

Picture of Phil Tataurangi from the Fairfax Archives, which was among the collection shipped to the US. Photo: Fairfax Archive / NZ Golf

Jenkins said she accepted the photos because she wanted them to stay in the region.

"There are so few places in Northland now where you can access local history because it gets sent away to the big cities. It's sad."

The Procter Library, however, has only a fraction of the collection.

Shaun Reilly, the former Northern News photographer, believed the rest had been sent to Auckland Museum.

Museum staff told RNZ said they had received a donation of negatives from Fairfax's Auckland-based newspapers in 2016, but they didn't have any images from Northland.

They suggested RNZ try Auckland Libraries instead.

There, principal photographs librarian Keith Giles told RNZ he had been contacted in 2018 by a Stuff employee about a folder of historic photographs.

He was told the folder was part of The Northern News archive transferred to Kerikeri when the Kaikohe office shut down.

The staff member was concerned the heritage photos, along with negatives and vintage newspapers, would be dumped if the Kerikeri office could not find a home for them.

Auckland Libraries staff made three trips to Kerikeri, picking up three filing cabinets full of prints, a large number of negatives dating back to the 1970s, copies of The Northern News from 1919 to the 1940s, and a handful of glass-plate negatives.

"We thought it was important to preserve these items rather than see them disposed of," Giles said.

The folder of historic photos could not be found.

A Fairfax Archive photo of Stephen Scahill and Michael Campbell, which NZ Golf bought from the Duncan Miller Gallery. Photo: Fairfax Archive / NZ Golf

Giles said Auckland Libraries planned to catalogue and digitise the images, as resourcing allowed, but the immediate priority at the time was to ensure they were saved.

While The Northern News archive did not end up in the US, many photos of prominent Northlanders did, via the collections of larger newspapers - including photos of land rights campaigner and "Mother of the Nation" Dame Whina Cooper.

They are among more than 5000 images of Māori purchased by the National Library from the Los Angeles-based Duncan Miller Gallery and now back in New Zealand.

The images are currently being sorted through and catalogued.

Dame Whina's daughter, Hinerangi Cooper-Puru, of Panguru, said she was pleased the photos had been returned, and was looking forward to seeing pictures of her mother that had come so close to being lost forever.

She was, however, concerned they had been sent overseas in the first place, without permission from iwi or whānau.

"I'm concerned that they ever left our country, Aotearoa … This must not happen again," she said.

Prominent historian Vincent O'Malley said the Ministry for Culture and Heritage should never have allowed the photos to be sent overseas.

"This is 1.4 million photos that constitute an incredible photographic record of New Zealand's history, and it's really tragic that it's been lost to the country in this way," he said.

At the time, Fairfax executive editor Paul Thompson - now chief executive of RNZ - said digitising the collection in New Zealand would have been prohibitively expensive, and the photos were deteriorating because they could not be stored properly.

Some had already been lost in the Christchurch earthquakes.

Each image would have cost $2-$4 to digitise locally, resulting in an overall cost of millions of dollars.

At the time he said the key thing was not the physical photos themselves but having access to digital versions that could be searched for in a database and used.

However, O'Malley said the physical photos themselves were historic artefacts of great significance.

"That's obvious from the fact they are being sold off, piece by piece. It's wonderful the National Library has secured 5300 images but that's less than 1 percent of the total collection. It still represents a vast loss of our cultural heritage."

Fairfax Media obtained much of the photo archive when it bought Independent Newspapers Ltd in 2003.

Sending the archive to the US was part of a bigger project by the Australian-owned company to digitise its image collections on both sides of the Tasman.

Millions more prints were sent to Rogers Photo Archive from leading Australian newspapers such as The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Stuff said digitisation of the New Zealand archive had eventually been completed in the US, as directed by the receiver, and electronic versions had been returned.

[Murray Fish]

Brian Rudman: Fairfax's photo nightmare - I told you so

By 

Brian Rudman

15 Apr, 2015 09:28 AM4 mins to read

 

Fairfax Media's decision to ship up to eight million historic New Zealand news photographs and negatives to Little Rock, Arkansas, for "digitising" has proved perilous. Two years on, the digital archiving is yet to be completed, an unknown number of the photographs have turned up on eBay.com for sale and Rogers Photo Archive (RPA), the company involved, is now in receivership facing at least 10 lawsuits totalling more than $94 million.

Fairfax Media has gone to court to recover the archives - which also include the photographic records of the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, and other Australian publications. Observing from the sidelines is the Ministry of Culture and Heritage which allowed the export of this taonga, even though, under the Protected Objects Act, it had the power to refuse the export of photos more than 50 years old.

In documents filed in the Circuit Court, Arkansas on December 19, Fairfax argues that from the time the agreement was signed in May 2013, "there were numerous issues raising concern for Fairfax that RPA could not or would not perform". Under the deal, Fairfax agreed to sell the photographs and negatives to RPA for no charge, and in return RPA would provide separate digital libraries for both Australia and New Zealand.

After the Herald revealed Fairfax's plans in May 2013, the ministry intervened and RPA and Fairfax agreed that no item created prior to 1973 could be sold or disposed of without the ministry's approval. However, it issued "a temporary export certificate" for the whole archive saying it would check for "protected objects" once the collection was digitised.

 

After months of "concern" for Fairfax, including RPA being raided by the FBI in January 2014 as part of an ongoing probe into fraud in sports memorabilia trading - another of Rogers' interests - the media company wrote to RPA in late November, terminating the contract - and demanding the return of the archives before December 4. Instead, Fairfax told the court, the New Zealand archive had been transferred to another organisation in Newport, Arkansas.

Fairfax spokeswoman Emma Carter says the archive is now "in the possession of the court-appointed receiver" and that "work continues to digitise the archive". She says "the majority of New Zealand images have already been scanned".

Also, the court has ordered no further Fairfax images be sold or transferred, and she says Fairfax is "exploring our recovery options" for those already sold.

Two years ago, when the Herald first revealed Fairfax's plans to ship the photographic archives of 72 New Zealand publications overseas, I expressed my disquiet about exporting such a huge part of our cultural heritage. The disquiet has turned into a scary nightmare. This massive pictorial heritage stretching back into the 1800s and illustrating the lives of 72 New Zealand cities and towns, is now in the hands of a receiver, while a horde of creditors clamour for any penny they can claw back. We can only pray that Fairfax's claim to ongoing ownership holds up in court.

Defending the deal in May 2013, then Fairfax group executive editor Paul Thompson argued it was the only way to rescue newspaper archives suffering from years of neglect and decay. He said it would have cost $2 to $4 an image to have them digitised in New Zealand, which added up to a possible bill of $32 million. "It was just prohibitive," he told the Marlborough Express - one of the papers whose historic photos are now trapped in Arkansas.

At the time, Mr Thompson said it wasn't the original image or "artefact" that was as important as the usability and accessibility of an image. "The real benefit is being able to search and find and retrieve and use them. It's no good having millions of photographs that are impossible to access, poorly stored and scattered to the four winds." Or in Arkansas.

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[Murray Fish]

LOL, but wait there is more... 

You will recall all the great TV1 coverage of Horse racing. 1000's of hours.  NZ Racing never got the copyright and if you want to use any then it will cost you are arm and a leg to ever use!!!!  Hence it is never used on Trackside! or even by the Hall of Fame.

There is a small amount put up on Youtube that hasn't been ordered to be taken down! 

[The Centaur]

Very informative postings Murray. Thanks. Its amazing how disinterested some people are about historical photos. The Fairfax episode criminal to say the least. Still can't figure out whats happened to all the material Auckland Racing Club had in containers for a Racing Museum. I suspect after taking photos and paintings for the members stand at Ellerslie the rest was dumped e.g Friday Flashes, Best Bets, Hoof Beats etc.

[Murray Fish]

On 7/06/2024 at 11:43 PM, The Centaur said:

.1: Its amazing how disinterested some people are about historical photos.

2:The Fairfax episode criminal to say the least.

3:Still can't figure out whats happened to all the material Auckland Racing Club had in containers for a Racing Museum.

4:I suspect after taking photos and paintings for the members stand at Ellerslie the rest was dumped e.g Friday Flashes, Best Bets, Hoof Beats etc.

1:  I think in the modern area, especially as now all the video's are up free to stream, there is less and less wants around getting the framed photos, especially so for the 'big players'. 

2: The have been slowly running auctions, have not seen any racing stuff uo yet, I will find a link for you and send it your way!

3: I was led to believe that a lot was binned as in 4..

You might recalled that around the time of energy being put into trying to get a Racing Museum in place, by the likes of S Archer and W Pye, there was discussion around 'memorabilia',  also energy was being put in around Hall of Fame, my suggestion was, wasn't this a good time to go back to the districts and start a search for what was out there for each area, that didn't get much traction with the Waikato and Auckland (mafia/whales)  winning for what we have now!

Meaning,  I recon now a lot will be lost forever, especially as the following  generations continue to treat a day at the races as a good excuse for a piss up!

To me the qualifying criteria HoF is flawed! How the hell is Noel Eales not in there.. and some of the Great Families should be given their due... 

All the above is yet another reflection of a Sunset Industry!

[Wingman]

N

6 minutes ago, Murray Fish said:

All the above is yet another reflection of a Sunset Industry!

Now I'm shuddering cos I keep hearing that from those closest to me. The tracks, handicapping, incompetent executive (previously/now) is a constant irritation but my glass half full personality says "there will be light at the end of the tunnel". Now I'm wondering if we are in a tunnel with a brick wall at the end, no light.

[curious]

14 minutes ago, Wingman said:

 my glass half full personality says "there will be light at the end of the tunnel".

Oncoming train?

[Wingman]

WRECK🤣

[Special Agent]

I hate that sunset industry term.

[Murray Fish]

2 hours ago, Special Agent said:

I hate that sunset industry term.

toughen up!  racing is a text book example!

[Special Agent]

Text books when I was at school were treasured.  No amount of toughening up would prepare one for the crap that comes from most currently in charge of racing or certain racing clubs.  Not all club committees have racing's best interests at heart.  There really are some dilly plonkers at the helm in some areas.

[Murray Fish]

12 hours ago, Special Agent said:

Text books when I was at school were treasured.  No amount of toughening up would prepare one for the crap that comes from most currently in charge of racing or certain racing clubs.  Not all club committees have racing's best interests at heart.  There really are some dilly plonkers at the helm in some areas.

The concept that I am referring to, was based on the research I had undertaken back in 95 about "racing ownership in NZ",  I was lucky enough to have been able to present this info, my research, to one of NZ top economists, one who has/had held the top govt role in that position,  he was a keen racing man!  he crunched all the names, we when got together to meet and discuss my 'info', he stopped and said "gee, this is a classic case of a sunset industry'. that was based on the historical decline of 'real' investment in the Industry. Simple put, the pie was getting smaller and was only tracking one way...  Its been interesting to see how 'the whales' have been able to mitigate their 'investment' by the White Knight Sir Winnie of NZ1st galloping in to....

re The Clubs,  most of their stuff has been around 'moving chairs on the titanic'  and procedural politics around  'picking prefer club$' and transfer wealth from the  periphery clubs to the core chosen clubs..   country to city   (over the years there has been some interesting economics share around that process,  sigh, one person springs to mind,  dam I cant recall his name, Laurie M from down southland?? others have made interesting comments, again, names escape me Rod HIll?

Its interest to see what has been directed at 'The Punters', some great improvements have come via better technology options, TV and the range of betting options etc...   but there has been a interesting contradiction  at play their!  Along with the 'more sorts of bets' , the TAKE OUT$ have increased Big Time,  that was covered in a post put up here a few months back around real insights from that au bookie, ( I was surprized that that thread got almost no responses)  he pointed out that all those excocts slowly over time negated  actual turning over of any punters betting,  simple put, most lost their money quicker!!!!  and that in the end negates final profits going forward.

 

Having said all that!!! Speaking  personally, HOW can One make sure the One Gets Some FUN out of having a interest in 'things racing nz'.  Lol, I have spat the dummy a few time over the last ten years! tragically, I keep dusting it off and coming back for more!  I hope you are finding some joy, somewhere, with your involvement!

 

ps @TAB For Ever  I await your brutal critique of the above!

[Wingman]

True blue punters always have a 'spit the dummy' moment. You wouldn't be human if you weren't. Some time back in an earlier iteration of the FUBAR track that it was I swore I would never bet again at Awapuni. Years later I had at the time my biggest ever win bet on a horse running at, you guessed it, Awapuni and it won. Shallow as a puddle.

[Freda]

11 hours ago, Murray Fish said:

The concept that I am referring to, was based on the research I had undertaken back in 95 about "racing ownership in NZ",  I was lucky enough to have been able to present this info, my research, to one of NZ top economists, one who has/had held the top govt role in that position,  he was a keen racing man!  he crunched all the names, we when got together to meet and discuss my 'info', he stopped and said "gee, this is a classic case of a sunset industry'. that was based on the historical decline of 'real' investment in the Industry. Simple put, the pie was getting smaller and was only tracking one way...  Its been interesting to see how 'the whales' have been able to mitigate their 'investment' by the White Knight Sir Winnie of NZ1st galloping in to....

re The Clubs,  most of their stuff has been around 'moving chairs on the titanic'  and procedural politics around  'picking prefer club$' and transfer wealth from the  periphery clubs to the core chosen clubs..   country to city   (over the years there has been some interesting economics share around that process,  sigh, one person springs to mind,  dam I cant recall his name, Laurie M from down southland?? others have made interesting comments, again, names escape me Rod HIll?

Its interest to see what has been directed at 'The Punters', some great improvements have come via better technology options, TV and the range of betting options etc...   but there has been a interesting contradiction  at play their!  Along with the 'more sorts of bets' , the TAKE OUT$ have increased Big Time,  that was covered in a post put up here a few months back around real insights from that au bookie, ( I was surprized that that thread got almost no responses)  he pointed out that all those excocts slowly over time negated  actual turning over of any punters betting,  simple put, most lost their money quicker!!!!  and that in the end negates final profits going forward.

 

Having said all that!!! Speaking  personally, HOW can One make sure the One Gets Some FUN out of having a interest in 'things racing nz'.  Lol, I have spat the dummy a few time over the last ten years! tragically, I keep dusting it off and coming back for more!  I hope you are finding some joy, somewhere, with your involvement!

 

ps @TAB For Ever  I await your brutal critique of the above!

 

Laurie Sutherland. 

[curious]

5 hours ago, Freda said:

 

Laurie Sutherland. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/sport/racing/5133691/NZTR-is-breaking-law-claims-Sutherland

[curious]

17 hours ago, Murray Fish said:

 others have made interesting comments, again, names escape me Rod HIll?

Now mardigras and still posts occasionally on theraceplace.

Edited June 14 by curious

[Freda]

2 hours ago, curious said:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/sport/racing/5133691/NZTR-is-breaking-law-claims-Sutherland

Chickens and roosting and so on.