Leslie Adkin: Farmer photographer
Leslie Adkin: Farmer photographer
Athol McCredie
Published by Te Papa Press, September 2024
244 pages, Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-99-116550-3
Pre-order from Te Papa store here
Public talk by author Athol McCredie
Wednesday 4 September 2024, 12:10pm to 1pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau Auditorium, (lower ground) National Library Wellington. Entrance on Aitken Street.
To attend the live-stream, register on Zoom
Leslie Adkin (1888–1964) was a Levin farmer, photographer, geologist, ethnologist and explorer, a gifted amateur and renaissance man, of sorts, who used photography to document his scholarly interests, farming activities and family life. His much loved and exceptionally beautiful photographs taken between 1900 and the 1930s are one of the highlights of Te Papa’s historical photography collection.
This book of over 150 images, selected by Athol McCredie, Curator Photography at Te Papa, establishes his reputation more clearly within the development of photography in New Zealand and showcases a remarkable body of work.
McCredie’s substantial text gives rich insights into the varied elements of Adkin’s very busy life, including his love for his wife Maud, captured over the years in a range of intimate and engaging images which feel as fresh as when they were first taken.
Profiled by Grace Odlum for the New Zealand Herald here
Q&A with Athol McCredie on Te Papa blog here
About the author:
Athol McCredie is Curator Photography at Te Papa, where he has worked since 2001. He has been involved with photography as a researcher, curator and photographer since the 1970s. His publications include Brian Brake: Lens on the world (editor, 2010), New Zealand Photography Collected (2015) and The New Photography: New Zealand’s first generation of documentary photographers (2019).