New Zealand Hut Heroes: Rob Brown
Rob Brown: tramper, photographer, activist and diplomat
By Sam Demas
(Note: this is part of the larger work New Zealand Huts: Notes towards a Country Study)
We spent several hours talking with Rob in his Wanaka home (and enjoying the harmonious background presence of his two lovely daughters), before heading out to stay in one of the many huts (Meg Hut) that he urged us to visit. Clearly a gifted photographer and committed activist, he pursues his passions — for art, activism, and partnerships in support of the great outdoors — with vigor on a national scale. These accomplishments — combined with his inherent enjoyment of advocacy, policy and process — make him a real player in the world of New Zealand huts and wilderness.
For Rob these threads began to come together as a student of engineering at Lincoln University, where he began studies later than most of his peers. Free to explore his interests, he ordered a large format field camera and began to teach himself to use it. Long after others gave up and went entirely digital, Rob persisted in lugging into the backcountry this marvelously high resolution, “old school”, and incredibly heavy and unwieldy camera. This may be something of an artistic trademark: persistence in the name of quality at all costs. Around the same time he got serious about photography, looking to meet people with similar interests, he joined the university alpine club. He wandered into a slide show by Shaun Barnett, who was pursuing an M.A., and they quickly forged a strong friendship, which has grown into a life-long series of collaborations in tramping, writing, photography, and advocacy for huts and wilderness.
Like many young people, when they finished university in 1992 jobs were scarce. Rob began doing repairs for gear manufacturer MacPac and started selling photos to Robbie Burton at Craig Potton Publishing. Robbie soon hired Rob to work in marketing at the publishing house. On a 1997 backcountry trip Rob proposed writing a tramping guidebook and Robbie liked the idea. Though neither had ever written a book, Rob talked Shaun into partnering in this enterprise. They combined their strengths in tramping, writing and photography to produce the very popular Classic Tramping in New Zealand, which into several editions and won the Montana Award.
At some point Rob began Rob Brown Photography, the platform for his outstanding art and commercial photography, commissions, TV film work, workshops, location management and scouting, and calendars and cards. He is acknowledged as one of New Zealand’s premier landscape photographers.
As active trampers and committed environmentalists Rob and Shaun both joined a range of national conversations and initiatives. Rob was a member of the FMC Board for 9 years, edited the FMC Bulletin for two years, and was a member of the West Coast Conservation Board for 9 years. Over time these activities drew Rob into multiple roles in relation to DoC: active critic, vocal commentator on national parks and wilderness areas/values, contractor/policy analyst, and, most recently, as leader of a recent DoC funded initiative.
Rob Brown at, Field Hut, Tararua Forest Park, Wellington June 2010
While Brown is opinionated and strong minded, he appears to play well with others and has emerged as something of a diplomat in managing the ongoing tensions between DoC and the tramping community. He played key roles in developing and fostering the Outdoor Recreation Commission, a three year voluntary hut maintenance experiment, and was selected as manager of the innovative public/private partnership for hut maintenance, the Backcountry Trust.
In our conversation Brown said that his activism has given him a better understanding of the role of activist criticism. He stresses that he sees his role as urging and helping DoC, an agency he greatly admires and supports, to become as great as it can possibly be. He does this by speaking truth as he sees it and by working closely with all sides of a controversy to find constructive, principled solutions. Rather than expressing distrust, or undercutting DoC’s capacity or funding, he views his role as an agent in stimulating and supporting creative partnerships between trampers, environmentalists and DoC. It will be fascinating to follow his path in hut, track and wilderness diplomacy.
In addition to 100 Classic Tramps, Rob has published two books as a member of the Dream Team (including Geoff Spearpoint, Shaun Barnett and Robbie Burton) Shelter from the Storm and Bunk for a Night), and two lush, large format photography books New Zealand: the essential landscape and Rakiura: the wilderness of Stewart Island.
Following are two pieces to round out this brief profile of Rob Brown: 1. his own photographers statement, and 2. the author bio from his publisher.
1. Photographers statement from Rob Brown Photography:
Quite by chance, I fell in love with the mountains of New Zealand while at university in the early 1990s. Many of us carried cameras into the hills to record these precious moments and from then on photography has played an important role in communicating my love for life.
Eventually my horizons expanded past the obvious and it has been a privilege over the past 20 years to take my eyes on a journey from one end of New Zealand to the other.
More recently, in a return to my farming roots, I’ve started to explore our rural landscapes. Living in this part of the world, in the lower half of the South Island, our rural landscapes are unavoidable – they are part of who we are – from the wide-open spaces of the high country to the flat patchwork of the plains further north.
In photographing the New Zealand landscape my style is to walk, search and wait for the combination of light and form that says something essential about a place. I’ve not been able to come up with a better summary for my thoughts on landscape photography than this from Robert Adams:
‘We rely, I think, on landscape photography to make intelligible to us what we already know. It is the fitness of a landscape to one’s experience of life’s condition and possibilities that finally makes a scene important or not.’ — Robert Adams ‘Beauty in Photography’
While landscape photography remains my first love, my attraction to form inspires me to photograph a wide range of subjects with new commissions and projects constantly filling up the working year.
More recently I’ve branched out into providing locations and logistics services for the film and TV industry. While the making of moving pictures is completely different to stills, I’ve found it satisfying to share my in depth knowledge of New Zealand with production teams seeking to realise their own creative dreams.
Thanks for visiting www.robbrown.co.nz and browsing through my vision of New Zealand. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have a specific request for photographs.
2. Author Bio from Craig and Potton website:
Rob Brown is one of New Zealand’s leading landscape photographers and writers. The considerable weight and size of his pack is often noted by people who accompany Rob on his frequent trips into the backcountry. His pack is so heavy because on top of the necessary tramping gear and food, he always carries his large-format field camera and the requisite lenses and film. Now considered old technology, this camera has been one of the cornerstones of his career for it has enabled him to produce the remarkable, immensely detailed and beautifully lit photographs that so distinguish his work.
His photography has appeared in many publications, including three acclaimed books, Rakiura: The Wilderness of Stewart Island (2006), the Montana Award-winning Classic Tramping in New Zealand (2010) co-authored with Shaun Barnett, and New Zealand: The Essential Landscape (2011). His work also features in many calendars, including his own ‘Wild Landscapes’ calendar.
Rob Brown lives with his family in Wanaka.