Photographer Allan Johnston's exhibition of Central Otago Vineyards for CureKids is at Amisfield Winery from September 15 to October 27.

Artist statement:

"We all have a voice, however, we use it in different ways to convey a message. I've found my voice via a lens. For me the best way to communicate a message or tell a story to the masses, is with the camera.

This body of work and exhibition is not just about promoting Central Otagos wine and vineyards industry. It's about helping CureKids raise money to prevent life treating sicknesses.Photographer Allan Johnston's exhibition of Central Otago Vineyards for CureKids is at Amisfield Winery from September 15 to October 27.

Artist statement:

"We all have a voice, however, we use it in different ways to convey a message. I've found my voice via a lens. For me the best way to communicate a message or tell a story to the masses, is with the camera.

This body of work and exhibition is not just about promoting Central Otagos wine and vineyards industry. It's about helping CureKids raise money to prevent life treating sicknesses.As an artist, this exhibition is to embrace the simplicity that we find in the natural lines of the Otago landscape and the way we see it.

Simplicity, can be a hard thing to achieve at times and every where we look we see lines, whether it be a road running though a vista or a row of vines. Let your eyes flow through and be lead by the simplicity of lines in the images in this exhibition.

I have used the natural and man-made lines in the landscape to draw your eyes into the photograph and lead you somewhere, such as a road or row of vines. What you see beyond the lines, nobody knows, as we all see something different, to take away a different piece of my world and what I see. "

Artist Profile:

Allan Johnston was born in Whangarei, New Zealand and after much traveling
and working overseas, moved to Queenstown in 2005 to pursue his
photography career.

Allan obtained his first camera in 1967 from his mother. He was first
influenced by his father and John & Wendy Rykenburg, his aunt and uncle,
who owned a successful photo business on the corner of Albert and Swanson
Street in Central Auckland.

Self taught and self directed, it was not until Allan left school that his
education really started. Allan preferred to work with masters in his
fields of interest and learning from the best.

Meeting and working with a couple of American photographers, Jim Krantz
and Monte Kruse in 1990, Allan found what photographers were interested
in, within the image they were making, thus found his photographic voice.

"It was a insight into bleeding edge thinking, in marketing and the
creative photographic industry, in the corporate and medical fields."

Along with family and friends, Allan has had a number of other photographers that have inspired him. Most notable are Pete Turner for his use of colour, Ansel Adams for his black and white landscapes of Yosemite National Park, Brian Brake, George Tice, David Muench and Clyde Butcher for their great composition examples.

Allan uses very wide format cameras, made so they can be used like any hand held "point and shoot" camera. Due to the large film size, he is able to get true in-depth detail sharpness and greater colour saturation.

15th Sep to 27 Oct 2008
At Amisfield Winery
10 Lake Hayes Rd
Lake Hayes 7 km out of Queenstown on the
road to Cromwell

08/09/08