Kevin Double (left) and Richard Wotton have put Whanganui architecture on the world stage with a film featuring the old Plunket building in Campbell St.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Kevin Double (left) and Richard Wotton have put Whanganui architecture on the world stage with a film featuring the old Plunket building in Campbell St.
Photo / Bevan Conley
A conversation about a Whanganui building destroyed by fire several decades ago led to a film that will screen at a festival in Turkey.
Filmmaker Kevin Double's short documentary film Richard Wotton: Moments Later has been selected as a finalist for the Istanbul International Architecture and Urban Films Festival which will take place in October.
Double asked photographer Richard Wotton about his 1978 photographs of the Denton Building which once stood at 128 Victoria Ave and was the studio of pioneering Whanganui photographer Frank Denton.
"The idea of filming Richard while he was photographing buildings really appealed to me," said Double.
"In an era when people can just take out their phone and take a snap of a building, Richard's methodical approach of setting up a tripod and checking the light is quite mesmerising."
A number of Whanganui buildings are seen in the film as Wotton walks about with his tripod and camera bag but it is the century-old brick Plunket building in Campbell St built in 1915 that is Wotton's chosen subject in the film.
Wotton, who was the collections photographer at the Sarjeant Gallery for 31 years until he retired from the post in 2018 has been capturing Whanganui moments for over 50 years and the architecture of the city's older buildings always attracted him he said.
"I was inspired by Denton but it was American photographer Walker Evans' work that made me want to be a photographer," said Wotton.
"I like photographing buildings without any people around. I prefer to photograph people for portraits."
Older buildings, said Wotton, have lines that look good in photographs and were designed to be aesthetically pleasing.
"Some modern concrete and glass buildings just don't have that - there's no interesting lines or angles."
Richard Wotton in a still from Kevin Double's film selected as a finalist for the international festival.
Photo / Supplied
Double said there is a lot in the 12-minute film but the pace is quite slow.
"There is nothing rushed and the traffic was slow on the day we filmed the Plunket building."
Double credited the film's producer, Melita Farley, for adding and subtracting just the right amount of detail from the film to prepare it for an international audience.
"The entries closed on a Friday and on Wednesday I was still filming pick-ups [minor shots]," Double said.
Richard Wotton: Moments Later was selected as one of 36 finalists out of 725 international entries and is the only Australasian finalist in the festival.
A Whanganui screening will be held at the Sarjeant Gallery after the festival in Istanbul has concluded.
