Thomas Teutenberg (b. 1990) is a photographer based in Gisborne, New Zealand. His work over the past year has adhered to the self-prescribed parameter of a daily practice. Photography had to fit around his life, his routines, and the triangulations of his routes. He took his camera everywhere.

With the printed photos from the last year splayed across his lounge floor in Gisborne, I talk to Tom Teutenberg about his recent 365 project, before the one-night only projection of his work at The Dome in Gisborne.

Amelia: All done?

Tom: Yeah, last week

A: You started this 365 project in the middle of the year, it’s not tied in with the spring equinox or something is it?!

T: (laughs) No, it tied into me finally figuring that I had all this camera gear that I never really used, I didn’t want to photograph with it, so I sold everything, all my digital gear and bought something smaller that I would actually want to use. That gave me some restrictions. I would have to carry the camera with me everyday. It spawned then, maybe a day after I got the camera. So that first image you saw (on Instagram) was my grandmother, she came in and saw me at my work. The first shot of her she was hiding away from the camera, but then I got a shot of her unaware, which is how I like to photograph. That started it off. The odd portrait pops up but it’s mainly just been inanimate objects and weird things I see, buildings I like, found things.

A: Looking back over the year can you see developments, track changes, patterns?

T: To a degree yeah, because I did a lot of photographing for galleries I had this obsession, as you can still see with most of the photographs, with everything having to be straight, straight on, deadpan. But I think since shooting a bit more film I feel like I’ve loosened up a little bit, you can’t be as accurate I suppose, you don’t really know what you’re going to get.

A: Your aesthetic has some formalist and modernist elements...

T: Yeah, I heard another photographer talking about how it was the German in him, so I wonder if that’s what I got (laughs) straight lines. I find it quite hard to photograph something off-skew, if the building isn’t straight up and down, even just looking at this (points to photograph on the floor). I’m kind of just trying to show it for face value I suppose, not trying to put a creative twist onto it, because I guess I find the object or building interesting enough so that it doesn’t need to be shot at a funny angle.

A: These photos are closely linked into your daily routine, right?

T: Absolutely, yes. So there are a lot of shots of me walking across the railway bridge, which I walk across everyday to get to work. Both of these (points to photos) are on the way to work, this (points to another photo) is on the way to the dairy, the supermarket, trolleys, these are things I found on the road on the way to work, the dead bird was on the way to work. It’s only a ten-minute walk but I’ve managed to get a lot out of it somehow. You just have to learn to look a lot harder I guess. There were a few times that I would actually go out of my way to photograph something, but about 90% of it is just something I’ve been doing, like this was getting the WOF for the car, this one was picking up a courier package, Kaiti mall for some reason, I don’t know. So it happened quite organically in a way, I tried not to force it. Which is still quite a theme in the way that it is shot. I guess I’ve got enough content to put a show together but it’s still quite random.

"Photographing everyday and carrying my camera wherever I went forced me to really look, and it’s become a lot more interesting, this place."

A: What about the whole thing with Gisborne, because part of the project is you coming back to Gisborne after being in Melbourne…

T: Well I was shooting a lot in Melbourne, and a lot before that in Wellington and I pretty much lost interest when I came back to Gisborne, because I’m pretty bored of this town (laughs). Coming home, it’s like you’ve seen everything, it’s boring, it’s hard to photograph because it’s not new and interesting, so that was another challenge for me as well, where I knew that was the case. I knew I was going to be pretty bored of photographing stuff here, but putting those restrictions on myself of photographing everyday and carrying my camera wherever I went forced me to really look, and it’s become a lot more interesting, this place. It’s still not the greatest spot, but it’s kind of…

A: Has Gisborne changed at all in that year?

T: Not really, not so much. I barely go into town so I don’t know what’s going on there. I just walk around the outskirts.

"I started looking a bit harder and it’s hard to turn that off actually."

A: Those outskirts seem to throw up these things/objects/situations for you to…

T: Yeah I don’t know where they come from. To begin with I just started with things that were fairly obvious, like the nice harbour, or boats, or a couple of nice sunset, I shudder to say, but it started to become a bit more obscure as I went on I suppose. I started looking a bit harder and it’s hard to turn that off actually. So instead of looking at people admiring the view, I would be photographing some trash or a dead bird. It’s almost like that photo of everyone looking at a solar eclipse, it’s a really old photo, and everyone has those glasses on, and then you have a photographer looking at the people, it’s kind of looking at what everyone else is missing. What some people are missing.

A: Could you say that partly a reaction to Gisborne being famous for its beaches, ‘first to the light’ and all that?

T: I’m not a fan of the beach, there is too much sand and you get wet (laughs). So yeah, I guess I show that there is something more to Gisborne than the beaches, because there is a hell of a lot more to Gisborne. When you say you’re from Gisborne people always say, “Great beaches”, or “Do you surf”, I’m like, “no”. All the conventional things people come to Gisborne for, I try to avoid, whether it’s on purpose or that’s how I am. It’s probably why I found it hard coming back, because the biggest things here are surfing and drinking, I guess I’m not that into either of those, so what do you do? I just found myself photographing a lot more, which is great for me. It’s not the most social thing, but I’m trying to get to people into it. A few people are interested…

A: What about your father, was he was also a local photographer?

T: He was one of those general photographers, he did schools, weddings, commercial stuff, family portraits, he was bloody good at it, had been doing it for 35 years. He taught me most of what I know. So I guess I found high-school photography pretty boring. They were trying to teach you what an aperture is, so that’s why I dropped out, because the only subject I wanted to do was a bit boring. So I was just learning myself, researching and doing a lot of trial and error. I did go to University though. I went to Wellington not intending to go to Uni and ended up studying for three years, three years of playing around really, experimenting and what-not. So that gave me my footing in how I photograph now. A lot of that, even my final project, was mainly shooting people, carrying a camera wherever I went, photographing people I was hanging out with, places I went and I exhibited 400 photographs, related to this, but just with a really different subject matter.

"It was good. It was hard. Probably some of the shots I don’t like that much are those ones where I was really struggling that day." 

A: At the moment you’re going through a process of selection and refinement towards an exhibition and publication…?

T: Out of the year long project, I don’t like all the photos, so I’m curating it down to about 100 or so, so it can be fairly digestible, and then a publication, or zine, which I’d like to do more of.

A: So overall how did that everyday parameter work out for you?

T: It was good. It was hard. Probably some of the shots I don’t like that much are those ones where I was really struggling that day. But then surprisingly some of the shots I really love are from times I thought I wouldn’t get anything.

A: Was it sometimes photography by force? You know, you’re forced to do one? But you know how you can’t always wait around for inspiration, sometimes you have to go out….

T: And find stuff…yeah. Also, now that the 365 day project is over I can allow myself some time to shoot on film, on a different format, which is ultimately where I want to be. I’d rather be shooting film than digital. Since there is no lab in Gisborne I struggled for some time because sending it away was a hassle. So now that I’m developing and scanning myself, it is way better. So I haven’t picked up my digital camera for some time. It’s just gathering dust. I just shoot film now. Which is expensive and time consuming but…

A: I mean, what are the differences to you between analogue and digital photography?

T: I don’t really do a lot of editing on my photographs, even my digital ones. With the FUJIFILM camera, I had some film presets on there, they look great right off the bat, maybe bump up the contrast a little. So that and film are quite similar, I just develop it and scan it and pick of any hairs from when I scanned it. It’s just about…it’s not sitting there for hours on end, the colours are already nice, you don’t know what you’re going to get until you develop it, is always appealing. Restricting yourself, once you’ve got a film in there you’ve got to finish it, it’s one speed. I’d like to be able to do that more, only using one camera that you get so familiar with that you don’t even need to think about it. But I just keep buying more cameras and shooting them, and I probably will until I get the perfect camera…

"Instagram is great for getting a wider international audience."

A: For the 365 project your work was put up on Instagram pretty much everyday, how did you find it as an outlet?

T: Instagram is great for getting a wider international audience. But then I forwarded it onto Facebook, so friends and family can view it as well, but I didn’t really like how they came through on Facebook, they were larger and more pixelated. On Instagram you don’t have to say too much, which is good. I just had the camera emoticon and a number, it was like putting on a school uniform in the morning, it was easy. I didn’t really want to use hashtags, it was kind of selling yourself a bit, but you have to play ball too.

A: Is there even any point in asking you what your favourite from the whole year is.

T: Oh, maybe! Umm. Maybe that? (photograph of an abandoned bus), or this one (the bunny), or this (points towards another photo) there’s a lot of photos I’ve come to like…

Follow Thomas on Instagram @thomasteutenberg