Does Michael Smith enjoy taking photos of the night sky? “Put it this way – he hasn’t been to bed for three nights so far this week,” his father Trevor laughs.
Michael, 59, is a familiar face around Motueka, and Trevor says his son is entirely self-taught in photography. He went through a neon lights photo phase before the family moved from Christchurch to Motueka 14 years ago – a theme that would not have been so fulfilling in their new hometown.
Michael is often seen along High Street with a small notepad in his hand, ready to bridge the gap of his deafness in the many conversations he has around town.
“He’s generally happy and has a great sense of humour,” says Trevor, explaining that his son’s deafness was caused by rubella before the vaccination was introduced to New Zealand. A passionate photographer, Michael has a catalogue of many thousands of landscapes, sunsets and moon phases.
He is particularly passionate about lunar photography, writing a newsletter prior to each eclipse to distribute to his network of about 80 interested parties. The recent lunar eclipse – caused when the sun and moon are lined up with the earth directly between them, was a worthy trigger for a snap-happy evening.
