Photo: Olaf Petersen Estate / Auckland Museum
Olaf Petersen is widely regarded as one of Aotearoa's finest nature photographers. Over his 50 year career, from the 1930s to 1980s, he documented the country's landscape and its people. His photography clearly demonstrated his love for nature; from the birds, sea, trees and wind-rippled sand on Auckland's wild west coast, to the flora and fauna from the far north to Stewart Island.
The first-ever retrospective exhibition of Olaf Petersen's work is currently being held at Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. The exhibition is called Nature Boy: The Photography of Olaf Petersen, and an accompanying book of his works has also been published. Kathryn speaks to Catherine Hammond, the head of documentary heritage at Tamaki Paenga Hira about the life and work of one of the country's preeminent photographers.
