Over more than three decades, Hawke’s Bay-born, Bondi-based photographer Derek Henderson has quietly established himself as one of the most sought-after snappers in the business, exhibited all over the world and shooting travel and art and fashion for the likes of The New York Times Style Magazine, i-D, and Vogue (British, Australian and US). Fittingly, his most well-known picture—certainly on these shores—is one that merges his love of landscapes with his knack for capturing the essence of his subjects; an already iconic image of Aotearoa that sees Jacinda Ardern standing tall before a windswept west coast beach surrounded by craggy green and grey headlands that was featured in that 2018 edition of Vogue in which she was famously labelled the “anti-Trump”.
“I was incredibly impressed with how engaging she was,” Derek tells Verve from his Sydney home. “I was glad to have taken my daughter along—she was only 11 at the time, and I wanted her to meet a woman, a young woman, in such a position of power. Thirty years ago, if you were to tell people that you’re a Kiwi, more often than not you were met with ambivalence. Now, everyone thinks it’s amazing, and wherever you go people say that they wish they had our prime minister.”
Altered Landscapes
Cape ReingaHorizons
When Derek—who started out as a wedding photographer’s assistant—bid farewell to Aotearoa in the late 1980s with dreams of making it in the fashion world there was, of course, no cheap mass air travel, Twitter or Instagram.
“It used to be that you felt extremely isolated in New Zealand,” he says. “So, my generation, and even a few after, felt compelled to travel and experience the world. It was unrealistic to become a fashion photographer based in New Zealand, you needed to be somewhere like London or New York. Now, technology has certainly made New Zealand feel less cut off, but there is still a darkness to it that I think can be quite polarising.”
Do you think that the landscape and environment effects the psyche of the people?
“Definitely. The steep mountains, the narrowness, the forest. It is quite dark. It’s moody, which is something you can channel into creativity, and explains why there are so many creative people in New Zealand, but it can also have its downside in terms of mental health.”
Sydney, Derek continues, is among the most spectacular cities in the world, and one he could never leave permanently. He admits to having a love-hate relationship with both Australia and New Zealand—where he still spends plenty of time for work and play—to the point where “it’s almost like I live in the middle of the Tasman Sea!”
Rodd & GunnFinding Photography
Road trips around the backcountry of Aotearoa left an indelible mark on his still-developing creative mind as a youngster; memories Derek attempts to recapture in The Terrible Boredom of Paradise, a compelling series of photographs that hover between the bleak and the beautiful—think big skies, tired dwellings, abandoned businesses, towering ridgelines, and vibrant beehives.
“That was me revisiting the places that our parents would drag us to, you know, with the caravan in tow,” he recalls. “It felt like going to the end of the world, really, which is where you might as well be on South Island’s West Coast. It was those glimpses out of the car window that I had fond memories of and wanted to recapture as an adult.”
Derek describes himself as a scrawny and unremarkable child who was quite comfortable “hanging out alone and observing”. Though his working-class family weren’t gallery regulars or particularly into the arts, they knew the value of it and were supportive of Derek pursuing his dream.
“Far from being perceived as being cool, back in the early ‘80s, photography was seen as nerdy,” he laughs. “Anyone can take a picture now. I’ve shot covers on my phone and I’ve heard of a photojournalist who uses their smartphone instead of a camera—not only is the technology now good enough, but it means they blend in more and are less likely to get shot at!”
Do you have a preference between shooting on film or digital?
“I still do prefer film—the results are just more unique. Digital can make you a bit lazy when it comes to composing pictures, you don’t need to look as hard, and you don’t have to take as much care.”
Does it add a little more mystery too, not quite knowing how the pictures will turn out?
“Yes, there is that element, also. You have more control, and as the photographer, you have to say, ‘You’ve got to trust me.’ I actually just shot a cover for Vogue on film.”
Are people skills as important as technical ones for a photographer?
“I think so. The technical side should become second nature, plus, you should have a good idea of what you’re going to do before the shoot even begins. It’s the rapport with the sitter that’s incredibly important. You don’t necessarily have to get along with them—sometimes you have to push their buttons to get a reaction—but the worst thing in the world is a picture of someone who looks bored out of their brains. You must make them feel engaged with the process.”
Derek has said that he’s always been fascinated by the human condition, and I ask him if the past year has altered his views on humanity and the planet that we inhabit. Days after our chat, he was due to fly back into New Zealand to visit his elderly mother—the first time he will have been home since the borders closed in 2020. Obvious tragedies aside, Derek hopes that recent events will force us all to slow down.
“But whether that happens remains to be seen—that monster just takes over and keeps wanting more, eating more, and taking more,” he adds. “My work’s always been about how we live in the world, how we relate to the rest of the world—the environment, other human beings—but I think it’s really turned me more towards what we can do to preserve the natural world. How we can co-exist with it in a practical sense in a way that everyone can be involved.”
It’s not about, he concludes, about going off and living in the bush by yourself or with your family, because not everybody can do that: “But we’ve all got to work out a way where we consume less.”
