Graham Reid | | 2 min read
Even before you get to his photographs, Murray Savidan has an impressive and interesting backstory.
In the Sixties he was the bassist in the Blue Stars, an Auckland band which was very popular and sprung a great rebellious teen anthem in Social End Product.
It was punk a decade before punk.
Social End Product, 1966
He started in photography when his girlfriend gave him a camera for his birthday and it lead to a career quite by chance after three of his photos were entered in the Auckland Easter Show.
He won with two of them, was highly commended for the third.
He build a developing studio in the kitchen, got a job in a photography studio, got commissions for fashion shoots and moved to London.
He spent time in Spain, married and moved to Sydney then back to Auckland and got into advertising photography.
And the work came in, as did the awards.
He pursued street photography out of personal interest and . . .
He traveled extensively.
This large format book is a handsome collection of his work from around the globe.
Here are photos which tell stories, hone in on people's lives, make jokes (Yes, there is a zebra crossing a road), find the unusual in the ordinary or the extraordinary in unexpected place.
Murray Savidan has given us permission to show you a sampling of his work. The captions come from Stop. Look Both Ways.
STOP. LOOK BOTH WAYS by MURRAY SAVIDAN Ugly Hill Press $70
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All photographs copyright Murray Savidan. Used with permission.
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Stone Town, Zanzibar 2011. The sculpture serves as a powerful memorial to the thousands of people who were captured, kept in inhumane conditions, shipped off and sold as slaves.
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Rome. 2013. Photograph taken 8 years before Covid.
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Cusco, Peru. 2008
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New Orleans. 2018
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Swiss Alps. 1970
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Sydney studio. 1980
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Auckland market. 2017
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Tanzania. 2011. Maasai boy in classroom
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Image at the top of the page: Antananarivo, Madagascar 2011
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All photographs copyright Murray Savidan. Used with permission.
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