
Murray Savidan is an outstanding New Zealand photographer who has travelled to many far-flung places around the world. STOP. LOOK BOTH WAYS, a large, handsome, linen-bound book, is filled with some of his best photographs from the 1960s to 2024 of both peopled and unpeopled cityscapes and landscapes. He also has a predilection for photographing mannequins, aiming to make them look as lifelike as possible.
STOP. LOOK BOTH WAYS is not a chronological record. He has taken a unique approach. Throughout his book, on each double-page spread, two photographs are juxtaposed, challenging viewers to look both ways and to find a connection between them.
The first two photographs are of two quite different kinds of zebra crossings. One is the iconic Shibuya zebra crossing in Tokyo (2023). Here, he captured the masses of people crossing in all directions. The second shows a zebra crossing a gravel road in Serengeti National Park (2011). It reminded me of our own safari in South Africa some years ago and my absolute delight at also capturing a snapshot of a zebra crossing a road. Throughout his book, there were many other photographs which brought back memories of our travels around the world, although we did not visit the more isolated places, sometimes in dicey situations, to which the adventurous Savidan has travelled.
Murray Savidan has an exceptional talent for street photography. In his photographs, he has captured people all over the world, showing our shared humanity but also arousing our empathy for the contrast between the poverty of many people in third-world countries as they go about their daily lives and that of ours.
But it is two of his landscape photographs which especially linger in my mind. One is of the tiny figure of a diver in the middle of a vast expanse of water taken in Cinque Terre, Italy (2013). Underneath the azure sea the rocky bottom is clearly visible.
The other is of two mountain climbers precariously attempting to climb a sheer rock face in New Zealand (1988). Far below them a river flows. And in the distance swirling misty clouds partially obscure a mountain range.
STOP. LOOK BOTH WAYS is not intended to be a travelogue. At the end of his book Murray Savidan has listed all the photographs, with their location and the year they were taken, and the camera he used. Very occasionally, he has added a brief comment, preferring to leave it up to us, the viewer, to interpret the meaning behind his pictures. One of my favourite photographs in this book is that of an ecstatic grandfather surrounded by his many smiling grandchildren. Without his brief comment, I would never have guessed the bigger story behind it, i.e. that this photograph was taken at a time when the ruthless Junta of Colonels ruled Greece, but that Murray Savidan found the Greek people amazingly friendly and generous.
Although he does not provide any technical advice, travellers with an interest in photography would find it very inspiring to look at his photographs and learn from them how he composed them.
And for the many travellers who simply use their iPhone to record their journey, it is well worth noting that although as a professional photographer, Murray Savidan had a wide range of cameras at his disposal, including a Hasselblad, Canon, and Leica, he chose to take quite a few of his photographs with his iPhone.
STOP. LOOK BOTH WAYS would also be a lovely coffee table book to browse through and enjoy its beautiful and sometimes surprising or challenging photographs.
Reviewer: Lyn Potter
Ugly Hill Press