Ānaru

Ānaru is the te reo Māori transliteration of Andrew. At a previous role, we were encouraged to refer to each other by our Māori names in addition to participating in reo workshops. Being called Ānaru every day — particularly by my Māori colleagues — felt like a genuine honour (and it sounds better). I subsequently sought permission to use it as a domain name as a small public act of pākeha/tangata Tiriti identity and support for te reo.

Ko wai au

I'm pākeha (tangata Tiriti), living in Ōtepoti, Dunedin, where I work as COO at Get Home Safe. On the side I'm a parent, analogue B&W photographer, record collector, noise maker, amateur DJ and elderly footballer.

This site collects things that don't fit anywhere else — photographs shot on film, writing about music and occasional opinions. Formerly also a business owner, academic, and radio host, among other forgotten things.

You can find me across various social platforms in which some are linked in the footer.

Over the years we've shared our home with many cats. The best of them was Monster Truck who is pictured here with me. He was a magnificent companion who died in 2025 after a long, happy life and I miss him still.

Whakaahua

One of my creative outlets is B&W film photography. I primarily shoot on a 1970s Olympus OM-1 with a Zuiko 50mm F/1.8 lens focusing mostly on street, gigs, landscapes and flowers. The slower, mechanical process of analogue is a nice contrast to the rapid, disposable modern experience. I tend to prefer the look of high-contrast, fine grain B&W photos using film like Ilford Orthographic Plus 80 or Kodak Tri-X.

I'm still very much a novice finding my way and while I currently use Splendid for development and scanning, I hope to do that part myself too eventually. Check the photo gallery.