Through the Lens: Remembering Photographer Henry Edward Gaze
At Hamilton City Libraries, our Special Collections team works with photographs every day. These images range from formal studio portraits and scenic landscapes to snapshots of everyday life and meticulously composed records of the city’s changing built environment. Some are professional commissions; others are personal mementoes. Each image tells its own story, and together, they form a vital part of our collective memory.
Among these photographs, the work of professional photographers stands out for both its quality and quantity. Many left behind a substantial visual legacy, a gift not only to their contemporaries but also to future generations of researchers, historians, and community members with a passion for the past.
Here in Hamilton, we are fortunate to have inherited a rich visual history, thanks to the work of talented photographers such as Louden, Cartwright, Gaze, Neiderer, Graham, and Lindberg. Their photographs are windows into the lives, places, and moments that shaped the city.
One name of particular note is Henry Edward Gaze.
Born in 1874, just seventeen years after the invention of the collodion photographic plate, Gaze came of age in the era of glass plate photography. He would go on to run a studio in Hamilton for nearly forty years, documenting the city and its people during a time of significant growth and change. Though well known locally, Gaze also gained international recognition for his work in art photography, a fact not widely remembered today.
This portrait of Gaze, taken in 1947 by Christchurch photographer Stefano Francis Paulovich Webb, captures a rare moment in front of the camera for a man who spent most of his life behind it. He passed away in Hamilton in 1953, but his contribution to the city’s photographic record continues to be felt. His work remains accessible through our archives and is regularly consulted by historians, researchers, and curious members of the public.
Next time you browse one of our local history displays or explore our digital collections, take a moment to consider the person behind the camera. Their eye, skill, and timing are what allow us to see the past with such clarity today.
