In the beginning
The original business was founded by Roy Kay in 1956, in Blenheim, New Zealand. The only camera owned was a Kodak Retina 35mm camera. It had to be reliable, and it was. Thousands of films were put through that first Retina. It was flash synchronised at all shutter speeds. Thank you Kodak for a great little camera. Sadly, Kodak has now left New Zealand, but we are still here.
Street corner photographers
In those early days, hardly anyone had a quality 35mm camera. Having a photograph taken on the street corner was a novelty. Customers would view proof sheets with a magnifying glass.They were enlarged manually into the popular postcard size photo. And of course they were always black and white. Postcards sold for 25 cents each.
Steady progress
In a small provincial town every aspect of professional photography had to be covered to make a reasonable living. This required more advanced photo equipment, and with the advent of colour printing, colour processing equipment. Making colour prints in New Zealand before Kodak themselves. Being innovative, it was inevitable that the business would expand. Nationally at first, and then into many other countries.
Our celebration
Nearly 60 years after those early days on the street corner in Blenheim, New Zealand based companies founded by Langwoods, photograph events in over 40 countries and on every continent. A team of over 200 photographers and 150 technical support staff, produce over 12 million digital photographs each year.
This project
To show the many corners of New Zealand. Some that are not so well known, and the stories behind them.
ABOUT Langwood Corporation
© 2015 Langwood Corporation Limited.