Photographer Tony Carter Finds Other World in Ohuru – a “tight-knit and colourful community”

Ohura is a tiny town with a population of just 120 people where there is next to no power, internet, or jobs – where time almost stands still. Photographer Tony Carter spent one year with the locals to capture the lives of the tight-knit and colourful community.

Carter, who had a “very rural upbringing” himself, has spent almost 20 years seeking the different in his home country of New Zealand, and decided to explore the dwindling town after witnessing the surrounding region dwindle from what was a thriving epicentre built around a strong mining industry to a veritable “ghost town”.

“When I’m not photographing people for my job I enjoy searching out people on the edges of society, people who don’t necessarily want to be seen,” Tony told Daily Mail.

Pictured is Ross, who is, by his own admission, a “retired horticulturist”. He has lived in a house truck for 18 years.

Carter has debuted the photographs from the photo series, “Another World: Portraits from Ohura”, in an exhibition which he hopes will display the lives of those who live in the community while respecting them.

“I didn’t want it to feel like a derogatory view, I didn’t want the people of Ohura to feel like I was taking advantage of them or belittling them,” he said.

“I wanted to show them respect, which was really important to me. A lot of people have said that I’ve have captured them but still have kept their dignity.”

Carter was named New Zealand Photographer of the year in 2010.

Original article by Heather McNab, Daily Mail, July 18, 2015.

Photo by Tony Carter Photography.