Kees Sprengers

The Hamilton Hotel
Gelatin silver prints
c.1981
Chartwell Collection

Edited commentary by Kees Sprengers, reflecting on a series of photographs he took over twenty years ago.

At the time, I was employed by the Waikato Art Museum as a photographer, and cooperated closely with the Museum Historian in the management of the Historic Photograph collection. We were acutely aware of the need to document contemporary Hamilton, especially aspects of Hamilton that had historic significance, and which some time in the future may be subjected to change or irreparable damage.

Outside my museum photography, I had been taking my own personal photographs for about 15 years. Most of those were of people, but in the late 70's and early eighties, I began to photograph spaces, purely for my own satisfaction. I'm not entirely sure how I got to the Hamilton Hotel, I think it was Rob Gardiner who asked me to do a series of B&W photographs of the hotel and it's interior, prior to the upcoming restoration. Parallel to this, he had engaged the late Robin Morrison to do a similar documentary in colour.

I became fascinated by the atmosphere of the building, and the echo's of past generations that passed through it. I spent many hours in weekends, and summer evenings, alone in the big empty building. Maybe I found refuge in the hotel and my photography, being alone for a few hours of the time,intensely concentrating on light and composition, completely losing myself in it. The resulting prints gave me great satisfaction. It was only with hindsight, a few years later, that I started to recognise in some of the images a reflection of what was going on for me in my personal life (The fallen over bathtub next to a room that had a gaping hole in the wall, the long  dark corridors, with lights coming out of open doorways, and the sense of desolation in some of the spaces).

For technophiles only: I think all the photos were taken on 35 mm  B&W film, probably Ilford FP4, using an old Leicaflex (1967) which I inherited from my father, maybe some on a Nikkormat EL with a 24 mm wide angle lens. Many will have been fairly long exposures, using a tripod. Prints were made on Ilford Galerie paper.
 
Kees Sprengers
Wellington
September 2003