If My Memory Serves Me Well: Recollections of a Cameraman

Guild member Peter Janes shares memories and photos from his 45 years in the industry.

I didn’t want to be a cameraman. It was the Summer of Love. The Beatles had a huge effect on my adolescent years and the music scene consumed me. I couldn’t play a guitar, but I could play records.

So, in January 1967, I joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) in Wellington to work in radio. I had visions of being the bloke who spun the discs for Pete Sinclair or Keith Richardson. However, the powers that be decided to place me in the television film sound department. Although I was disappointed at the time, this was the catalyst that eventually launched my career in the camera department.

These were early days in television. We worked out of the Government Life Building in Wellington with the American Embassy above us. The studios were in Waring Taylor Street. The Vietnam War was raging and students were protesting. New Zealand was waking up.

Home had been the seething metropolis of Hastings, so I needed somewhere to stay. I was offered a place in a public service hostel – in those days it was Antrim House in Boulcott Street with seven smelly boys to a room and an alcoholic matron. My salary was 575 pounds – that’s about 12 quid a week and the hostel cost me four pounds six shillings per week. We got paid fortnightly and I can remember the money running out three or four days before the next payday.

My first flat was a damp but funky house off Tinakori Road with Alun Bollinger and** Roger Johnston**. I played Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Simon & Garfunkel, The Stones, and The Beatles, etc. Alun had records by Mahalia Jackson and Leadbelly. Roger smoked a pipe. We smoked as well, but inhaled and I also learnt how to drink terrible brews like apple wine, blackberry nip, hock, and cold duck. It’s a wonder I’m still alive. I also discovered the fairer sex.

I was a fairly average soundman and only lasted 18 months or so. During that time, I was taught how to record sound onto the magnetic stripe on 16mm film or onto ¼-inch tape on a Nagra – a beautiful piece of technology.

Each week the roster linked me up with a cameraman and we were sent out with a reporter to record interviews and events for the news, Town and Around, Country Calendar, and other programs of the day.

The camera room was a stimulating place to be. There were young blokes like me just out of school filming politicians, union leaders, sports heroes, war protesters, the man in the street, and any celebrities who came to town. New cameramen learning the ropes mixed with the relatively old hands like Waynne Williams and Alun. I learnt a lot just by listening and watching. The young guns were Ian Paul, Leo Shelton, Chris Connell, Dave Chilton, Peter Boden, Clive Taylor, and Andy Roelants amongst others – I am still in contact with some of them.

One of my favourite memories is being at Wellington Airport with reporter Keith Aberdein to meet The Who, the Small Faces, and Paul Jones (ex-Manfred Mann). It was a circus.** Keith Moon** was very funny and Pete Townsend wanted to punch some local music critic. Heady days!

At the end of 1968, I transferred from sound to the camera department, was given a light meter (a Weston Master V), and sent out on a news story. The results were shown that same night, so I learnt quickly from my mistakes. It was a great time, and I am grateful for those experiences – most of which I can remember.

A group of us decided to make our own films on the weekends using NZBC gear and short ends of film. Chris Mangin (an editor) wrote and directed a Western called Stubborn which we shot and acted in. Chris and I made a music clip to The Beatles’ Day in the Life. I still have it. One of the highlights was being part of the crew to shoot one of the NZBC’s first big dramas – The Killing of Kane – on location in Hawera in January 1970.

I left the NZBC and in 1973 became involved with a documentary about the mercenary Von Tempsky. The director** George Harris wanted to dramatise it, so he had Bruno Lawrence **play the lead. I recall filming in the bush in the Wairarapa on a beautiful dappled day. The finished result may have been a little patchy, but we had a lot of fun. I used an Arri BL and a Miller tripod. A simple cameraman and his simple camera – it had an off/on switch, a mag, and a lens. No menus, monitors, power distribution boxes, lockits, and endless short cables. Things have changed.

Another fun shoot was a Christmas Country Calendar special featuring Fred Dagg. I think it was around 1974. The director was Murray Reece, script supervisor Anne Keating, soundman Dick Reade along with John Clarke, me, and a bunch of Trevors.

Those were innocent years, and I had many great adventures. A lot of the stuff I shot then is lost and long gone. I regret that. Nobody kept the programs in those days. Archiving wasn’t considered important and we’ve lost some gems. At least I have a few snaps.