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Otago Daily Times
30-04-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Residency gives a new focus
A granddaughter and daughter of prominent late Dunedin artists Peter McIntyre sen and Peter McIntyre, Sara McIntyre, has returned to the South as the inaugural Forrester Gallery Residency recipient. She talks to Rebecca Fox about her photography journey. No-one loves a good road trip more than Sara McIntyre, but she does have one gripe — she only gets to skim the surface of a new place. So to get the chance to spend weeks in one place and get to know a community is her dream. She is getting that chance as the inaugural Forrester Gallery Residency recipient. The residency not only gives her a stipend to support her time in the Waitaki district, but she also gets the use of a cottage at Kakanui for about two months. So instead of moving on every few days in her campervan, she can settle in and explore the region. It is something McIntyre has always wanted to do. She has had a soft spot for Otago, as her family comes from Dunedin. Her grandfather Peter McIntyre sen (1862-1932) was a prominent commercial artist who created political cartoons for the Otago Daily Times and made lithographs while her father, also Peter McIntyre (1910-95), was renowned as New Zealand's official World War 2 artist. "Both my parents were brought up in Dunedin. In fact, all my New Zealand ancestors are all Dunedin. I think I was one of the first born in the North Island." McIntyre grew up in Wellington but spent a lot of time in Dunedin visiting her grandmother, aunts and family. She also went to George Street Normal School for a term. "I just remember being rather miserable. It was winter and I didn't fit in." It was through her father that she was introduced to cameras. He saw himself as a painter but took a lot of photographs. "We were brought up with cameras and taking photos, but painting was his thing." She started off with "hand-me-down" cameras, until her brother came back from overseas and gave her a Pentax. "This would have been in the '70s. And he said, 'You know, your photographs are good. You need a better camera'. I went round Europe in the early '70s with an Instamatic — you know, one of those cameras where you put the cartridge in. And he was horrified by that." Taking photographs became McIntyre's "thing". Even back then she remembers wanting to tell a story, rather than worrying about the technical aspects of it. "I just didn't care about quality. You know, I travelled for months in an old ambulance with my 3-year-old twins." She went to university but says she was not a great student. Then, when she had children, she found the rounds of coffee mornings a bit tedious so decided to train as a nurse. "I got right into it and loved it. And I think it sort of helped that I was a bit older because I just knew that's what I wanted to do. So it was more sort of wanting to be employable." Photography had fallen away in the intervening years but working in hospitals inspired her to pick a camera up again. As an neonatal intensive care nurse, she began taking photographs of babies in the unit. She was then asked to take photos of babies who had died. "That was the sad part of it. They were extremely private photos and then I just got a reputation within the hospital. It was just always a huge interest to me. "The family always referred to me as the family photographer. If there was any photo [that] needed taking, it was call Sara." It was not until she moved from Wellington to Kakahi in the King Country with the idea of semi-retiring that photography slowly became more of a focus. Her family had land in Kakahi. Keen trout fishers, they often visited over the years. "I just started coming here a lot. And then I decided to come and live here and give it a go." She took a month off to see how she found it and discovered at the end of that month she did not want to go back to the city. "It's just peaceful and it's sort of low-key. I live above the river. And I have the best of both worlds. I go to Auckland quite a lot and Wellington. I just find it nice and easy living here and people come and go and that's really nice." McIntyre also found plenty of inspiration in Kakahi. While she was only supposed to be a casual district nurse in the area, the job soon became fulltime. Photographing people is her great love. "It's really almost like an extension of conversations. And it's an excuse, in a way, to talk to people. I sometimes stop and ask people if they mind if I take a photograph. And I'm amazed at how amiable people are. They like to tell you about their lives. I think I'm a frustrated writer. Taking photographs is a really nice way of doing it. And to me, a photograph actually tells the story better, in a different way." It was during this time that she began taking photographs of people in their homes after seeing things she thought would make a great photograph. "I think that sort of became obvious to me when I was district nursing, because as a nurse, you're seeing them in their home and it means a hell of a lot more than if you see them somewhere else. I quite like photographing people in their gardens as well." So she upgraded her cellphone so she could take photos in a less intrusive way. "I couldn't lug my big Nikon camera around with me while I was visiting people in their homes to do their wounds and things." These days, she takes photographs on both, depending on the situation. Exhibition photography still requires the use of a professional camera. "The iPhone is just convenience when you haven't got a camera with you. And there are times when it's almost more appropriate because it's not a big camera in your face. And I find people are much less self-conscious about a phone." She began to put some of her photographs on Instagram and was picked up by Anna Miles Gallery in Auckland. She had her first solo exhibition in 2016 — "an incredible break". In 2020, she put together a book of her photographs, Observations of a Rural Nurse , featuring the landscapes and people she had come across while living and working in the King Country. "This is where I've probably taken most of my photographs." McIntyre says she can spot a good photograph almost instantly. "I don't really think about it. It's just there in your face. I can get quite frustrated because I will sometimes have an idea and try and make it work. But really, it has to sort of be obvious from the start." People are either good to photograph or they are not, she says. "There's nothing personal. It's when the photograph also tells you something about that person. You know, that's why I quite like photographing people in their home ... I could never do it in a studio." It was while creating the book that she finally retired from nursing to concentrate on photography. With the days now her own, she "traipses around", often taking her van on road trips about the countryside. "I spend a few weeks going up to the Hokianga or Northland or down south. And I've done quite a few road trips down south." On those southern trips, she never managed to visit Kakanui, so is looking forward to it. "I don't really have a plan. I just know the sort of photographs I like doing, and I think that it will sort of fall into place, I hope. "So this will give me the opportunity to really have a more in-depth look and I just know the way it goes that things will pop up." Waitaki District Council arts, culture and libraries manager Chloe Searle says the up-to-two-month residency is an exciting way to introduce different artists to the Waitaki district and see how they respond to "our place" in whatever way they create. Artists will be invited to take part. "It means we obviously get some interesting work to exhibit which is really exciting and a wonderful spinoff for the the project." It is also another way to extend the Forrester's reach across New Zealand and comes at a great time when the gallery has just celebrated its 40th and is in the midst of a building project. For the first year, the Friends of Forrester and the J.W. Christie Trust have helped fund the residency and the cottage is being provided free of charge. "We are hoping the Friends and the local arts community will work to provide the stipend each year."
New York Times
18-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Joe Montemurro: Lyon manager ‘thriving in this pressure' as he prepares for Arsenal return
When Match of the Day, the BBC's flagship football highlights programme, came on at 11pm on a Monday night in mid-1970s in Australia, a young Joe Montemurro was supposed to be in bed. 'We were lucky,' he tells The Athletic. 'We had a black and white TV. My older brother Anthony used to come and tap me on the shoulder, take me around the back and sit behind the couch.' Advertisement Montemurro recalls watching Arsenal legends such as Liam Brady, in his words a 'magician with the ball', Pat Rice, whom he has met in Arsenal's directors' box a few times, and goalkeeper Pat Jennings. It is thanks to his elder sibling, a huge Arsenal fan, that Montemurro, who is also a Juventus supporter — a nod to his Italian roots — is a Gooner. 'One day he just came with an Arsenal strip,' says Montemurro, now head coach of Lyon, via video call from his office in France. 'He said: 'You're an Arsenal fan now'. I must have been about six or seven years old.' Anthony travelled to Europe to visit Highbury and sent back some 'really bad and out of focus' Instamatic photos of an Arsenal game. 'I'll have to dig them up one day for our next interview,' the 55-year-old smiles. Fast forward nearly half a century and Montemurro, who never went to Highbury, will coach Lyon, owned by American businesswoman Michele Kang, against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final at the Emirates on Saturday. Montemurro knows Arsenal all too well having managed them from 2017 to 2021 during which he won the Women's Super League (WSL) and League Cup. He was also mentor to Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers on UEFA's coaching programme and still stays in touch on an informal basis with a few staff members and players such as Kim Little, Lia Walti, Katie McCabe, Leah Williamson, Manuela Zinsberger and the Australia internationals — Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross — exchanging birthday, Christmas or Easter wishes. It is not the first time he has returned to north London. In December 2022, he suffered a 1-0 defeat as Juventus boss at the Emirates in the Women's Champions League group stages. But this tie carries particular weight given the European trophy is nearly within sight. When Montemurro left Arsenal in 2021 he told The Athletic he was feeling 'the burnout' and 'needed to take a break'. But that summer, Stefano Braghin, the sporting director of Juventus Women, called. Montemurro won the league, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa in his first season but failed to qualify for the Champions League group stages last year. In March 2024, he left the club by mutual consent despite having two years left on his contract. Advertisement 'The direction that the club was going had changed from when I got there,' he says. 'There was definitely a change in terms of recruiting and growing the women's brand. The biggest catalyst was the massive change of the board at the top. They wanted to make massive changes in the women's team, which I didn't agree with. We just decided it wasn't the right thing for us all. We were quite happy to part ways, but very amicably. They were three fantastic years.' From England to Italy and now to France, Montemurro has led three very different projects. When he took over at Arsenal, the aim was to get back into the Champions League while he took Juventus from 33rd in UEFA's rankings in the 2020-21 season to 10th by the end of the 2023-2024 campaign. At Lyon, however, juggernauts of the women's game who have won the Women's Champions League a record eight times (but not in the past two years), there is a very clear expectation. 'On the global scale, it can set the standards for being one of the best clubs in the world, if not the best club in the world in its research, development and its football,' says Montemurro. 'You walk up the stairs and you just see all the accolades they've won. You're in an environment that is about winning at the highest level and being the best every day. I love it. 'As soon as you walk into the place, you just feel it, the culture of high performance. It has created a standard of being the best. The culture of people that they employ want to be the best at everything. It's sometimes difficult to explain unless you're here.' Montemurro gives one example. After every training session a picture of the winning team of a small-sided game is sent to the team's WhatsApp group. 'Each training session has this level of competitiveness,' he says. 'Sometimes I'm actually scared of some players, touch wood, getting injured because the competitiveness is just incredible. 'The everyday standards are so high that you just can't hide. There's no room to not be at your best, you've got to bring something to the group. You're under that microscope every day.' Lyon contacted Montemurro in April last year as they searched for a replacement for Sonia Bompastor, who was leaving for Chelsea. 'It was a call out of the blue,' he says. 'I (then) didn't hear anything. I was speaking to a couple of other clubs at the time. I was umming and ahhing: 'Is now the time to take those six months off?'. It all happened very quickly; they probably went through the ringer and the coaches they wanted didn't come up trumps. 'Oh, we'll interview this guy and see what he's all about.'' Advertisement In mid-May, within one week, Montemurro had presented to the club's directors. 'All of a sudden I was offered the opportunity to be part of this great club,' he says. Some coaches would envy Montemurro's situation, given he works with some of the world's most experienced and talented players, plus the investment Kang has provided in terms of staff resources. But with that comes expectation and pressure, not to mention a different environment in his non-native language. 'Mal…very bad,' says Montemurro when asked about his level of French. 'It's purely my fault. I struggle to find the confidence to get up and speak in French and make mistakes.' But given the diverse nationalities in Lyon's squad, the common language is English and Montemurro has made a good impression among the players, especially United States Women's National Team (USWNT) captain Lindsey Heaps. The American midfielder thinks he has done a 'really great job' and has got them back to playing Lyon's style of football. Montemurro, who was shortlisted for the USWNT head coach role, losing out to former WSL manager Emma Hayes, has brought, according to Heaps, the 'vibe' of 'freedom within structure' and allowed players to express themselves, to 'feel the game, feel the ball and value it'. 'When you have that feeling, it brings a lot of confidence,' she says. The head coach does not want to stifle his players with football structures and Heaps evidently enjoys that sense of liberty. 'Who doesn't?' she says. 'It's the best. For a midfielder in general, that's what you want. You don't like being put in a box. 'He expects a lot, he brings the standard as well. You get the freedom, but you have to do all the little things, that's defensively, the work rate, retaining the ball or winning it back.' Montemurro wants these players to go to the next level and reclaim their spot at the top of Europe having been knocked off their perch by Barcelona. He has given the team 'micro-objectives' with a performance- rather than purely results-based perspective. Lyon have a frightening attacking line of Melchie Dumornay, Kadidiatou Diani and Tabitha Chawinga but one target was to tighten up defensively. In this year's Champions League they have the best defensive record, conceding just two goals so far, while other details focus on when to play forward quickly and when to keep the ball for longer and control play. Advertisement Given Lyon's domestic dominance — they are eight points clear of rivals Paris Saint-Germain in the Premiere Ligue — a league Montemurro describes as a 'development league' and an 'exporter of talent', one asks where Lyon, who became a fully independent entity from the men's team in 2024, want to go. 'It's the ongoing question, isn't it?' says Montemurro. 'It wants to be a leader in the women's game.' But for Montemurro the focus is on 'football performance'. 'Bringing a style of football that is attractive (is the aim). As a coach I always want to play a possession-based and a proactive game, but that's the next level in terms of being a leader in the brand itself.' The ever-ambitious Kang, who was critical of Lyon's set-up when she bought the women's team last year, has brought in specialist performance staff to elevate her team to new heights. The team's CEO Vincent Ponsot leads the sporting direction while Kang, who is in Europe two or three times a month, remains in frequent contact with Montemurro. 'We feel her presence and it's great,' he says. No pressure to deliver, then? 'It's where you want to be,' he says. 'I thrive in this pressure. It's challenging your leadership and communication. Lyon thrive on this level, on the detail, the competitiveness of being at the top.' Montemurro has 26 staff members, the largest cohort he has worked with, including nutritionists, psychologists and analysts. A wellness report for each player lands at 8.30 every morning to inform staff how best to treat individuals from a psychological and physical perspective. 'All this information that's coming back to us really affects how we can design a training session, how we manage loads during the week to effectively get a mentally fresher player and be a player that's also physically ready to perform at the highest level,' he explains. Montemurro feels he has reached another level as a coach, not so much on the pitch, but as a leader and as a person. He has 'a wiser and more experienced approach to the game'. 'I'm managing my time and fatigue a lot better and all those things that come with coaching in terms of pressure,' he says. 'That's normal, the more you're in high pressure games or at big clubs, the more you experience these day-to-day scenarios. I'm at a good point and really, really happy with the coaching.' Advertisement No wonder, then, that the Australian Football Association contacted the Melbourne-born coach about becoming the Matildas' boss following Tony Gustavsson's departure in August. Australian media have reported Montemurro is among the favourites to take on the job full-time from interim manager Tom Sermanni. But Montemurro, who is contracted with the French side until 2026, says he would not take the job at this stage. 'My intention is to see out my contract,' he says. 'I'm really happy here. I just wanted to be honest and clear. It's normal the Australian Federation called, and this was a while back, but at no point was there any need for me to think otherwise than to be and stay at Lyon. 'I'm just really happy at Lyon and where we're at. We've got a lot to achieve here and I hope to be part of it for as long as they want me.' Montemurro's biggest challenge of the season so far awaits against his boyhood club on Saturday. Winning, and winning in style, is the expectation.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Recover Underwater Camera Designed to Snap Photos of Loch Ness Monster
In 1970, a cryptid-obsessed biologist placed several cameras inside plastic trap boxes and sent them down to the depths of Scotland's Loch Ness in hopes of finally capturing compelling evidence of its storied monster — and now, it appears that one of those cameras has been recovered by sheer accident. As USA Today and other outlets report, one of the cameras deployed by University of Chicago biologist Roy Mackal some 55 years ago was discovered during a test dive of an unmanned research submersible in the famed lake in the Scottish Highlands. Specifically, the camera trap's mooring system appeared to have gotten tangled up in the propellers for the submersible, which was named, much to the chagrin of the British government, "Boaty McBoatface" by the public in a viral poll in 2016. Full of sensitive oceanographic instruments meant to study Loch Ness' unique marine climate — it sits atop the British Isles' most prominent tectonic fault, after all — and the world beyond it, Boaty McBoatface's job description almost certainly doesn't include searching for monsters. All the same, the researchers who work with the submersible, known affectionately as Boaty, were pleased with their discovery. "While this wasn't a find we expected to make," Sam Smith, a robotics engineer with the UK's National Oceanography Centre, said in a press statement, "we're happy that this piece of Nessie hunting history can be shared and perhaps at least the mystery of who left it in the loch can be solved." It seems that Smith and his team weren't quite aware of what they had their hands on when they pulled the aged but remarkably well-preserved Instamatic camera out of its thick plastic cylinder. With help from naturalist Adrian Shine — a researcher who's been studying Loch Ness for more than half a century himself — they were able to identify the famed UChicago cryptozoologist's camera. "It was an ingenious camera trap consisting of a clockwork Instamatic camera with an inbuilt flash cube, enabling four pictures to be taken when a bait line was taken," Shine said in his own press statement. "It is remarkable that the housing has kept the camera dry for the past 55 years, lying more than [426 feet] deep in Loch Ness." When researchers developed the Instamatic's film, they unfortunately didn't find any photos of Nessie, though they did recover some beautiful, eerie photos of the deep, dark lake. The government researchers subsequently turned the camera and film over to the Loch Ness Centre in the loch-straddling village of Drumnadrochit (Mackal himself passed away in 2013, meaning the camera couldn't be returned.) According to Nagina Ishaq, the center's general manager, the find provides another piece of the puzzle in the history of the "elusive beast." "We are guardians of this unique story and, as well as investing in creating an unforgettable experience for visitors, we are committed to helping continue the search and unveil the mysteries that lie underneath the waters of the famous Loch," Ishaq said, per USA Today. Indeed, it's lovely to hear of something good happening with a submersible for a change — and to know that there are people still out there searching for monsters in the deep. More on marine beasts: It Turns Out Sharks Make Noises, and Here's What They Sound Like
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers just uncovered a lost camera trap set in the 1970s to capture the Loch Ness Monster – and the film survived
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Researchers from the UK's National Oceanography Centre were testing an underwater vehicle when the submarine's props snagged on something unexpected: An old Kodak Instamatic 174 camera inside waterproof housing. After investigating the odd find, the team realized that the camera had been placed in the lake 55 years ago as part of an attempt to photograph the infamous Loch Ness Monster in the 1970s. The little Kodak, surprisingly, survived underwater for more than 50 years before it caught on the prop of the submarine robot Boaty McBoatface and was pulled up from where it had sat at around 426 feet (130m) deep. Researchers then developed the film left inside. While the film doesn't appear to have caught an image that answers any questions about the legendary Loch Ness Monster, the find is an iconic representation of the past technology deployed in an attempt to solve the famous mystery. Image 1 of 2 Image 2 of 2 'It was an ingenious camera trap consisting of a clockwork Instamatic camera with an inbuilt flash cube, enabling four pictures to be taken when a bait line was taken,' explained Adrian Shine, a founder of The Loch Ness Project who helped identify the camera. 'It is remarkable that the housing has kept the camera dry for the past 55 years, lying around 180 m deep in Loch Ness.' According to Shine, the camera is believed to be one of six that were submerged by Professor Roy Mackal from the Loch Ness Investigation Beruau and the University of Chicago. Half of those original cameras were lost to a gale later the same year that the traps were deployed. The camera traps were set in the mid-seventies, designed to trigger if the bait line was touched. Image 1 of 2 Image 2 of 2 The Kodak Instamatic was a line of cameras that used the 126 film cartridge, which was known for being easy to load. The 176 was introduced in 1968 and made until 1971. The model used in the camera trap used an external flash cube mounted at the top of the camera to help light up a small part of the water. The Loch Ness is a 23-mile long lake with depths as far as 754 feet / 230 m. While the camera trip didn't appear to capture any shots of the elusive Nessie, the discovery was sent to the Loch Ness Center in Drumnadrochit to be displayed as part of the long history in the search for the legendary beast. Browse the best waterproof cameras or the best cameras for wildlife photography.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Lost Loch Ness Monster camera accidentally found by Boaty McBoatface
An underwater camera from 1970 that had been submerged to capture evidence of the Loch Ness Monster has been discovered by accident. The U.K.'s National Oceanography Centre was conducting a routine test of one of their autonomous underwater vehicles, named Boaty McBoatface, when it happened upon the camera system at a depth of around 590 feet. The camera is thought to have been submerged 55 years ago as part of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau's first attempt to use underwater photography in their search for Nessie. The center's underwater robot came across the contraption when part of its mooring snagged on Boaty McBoatface's propeller. When it was brought back to the surface, author and lifelong Nessie investigator Adrian Shine said he knew exactly what it was. "It was a fascinating moment," Shine told CBS News. He described the camera trap as "quite ingenious." "[It was] triggered by a bait line, which was above the camera on a float, and if that was pulled, an external magnetic switch was operated," he said. Shine, who set up The Loch Ness Project in the mid-1970s to investigate Loch Ness, said around 24 film exposures had been taken but there was no evidence of Nessie in those pictures. Once revealed, the pictures mostly show Loch Ness' dark, murky waters and it is believed the camera could have been triggered by the loch's strong underwater currents. According to Shine, the Instamatic film camera was one of six deployed as part of the project, which was spearheaded by American biologist and scientific director of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau Roy Mackal. The camera pulled to the surface by Boaty McBoatface was one of three that had been lost in the deep waters during a gale. The chance encounter came during a routine test of the center's underwater vehicles, which help map seabed habitats. Sam Smith, from the center's Marine Autonomous Robotics Systems group, said, "While this wasn't a find we expected to make, we're happy that this piece of Nessie hunting history can be shared and perhaps at least the mystery of who left it in the loch can be solved." Freed Israeli hostages call for end to war, to bring remaining Gaza hostages home Ex-Trump intelligence official: "Nothing" shared was "appropriate" for Signal group chat Poll finds most American think Trump not focusing enough on loweirng prices
