The best photos of 2022 from The Press photographers

Here are the best photos taken by Stuff’s Christchurch photographers this past year, as chosen by them. Words by Jake Kenny.

Chris Skelton

Former Lyttelton firefighter Jason Roberts attempts to salvage what he can after a fire ripped through his heritage home that once homed Ernest Shackleton.

Roberts’ former colleagues at the Lyttelton fire brigade said he was a victim of horrible luck, after sparks from him sharpening an axe with an angle grinder festered under floorboards and started the fire in his home 30 minutes after he’d finished grinding.

The heritage home in Lyttelton – named Devonia – was built in 1887 and once hosted Ernest Shackleton when he stayed in New Zealand as part of his first expedition to Antarctica.

Skelton’s wide angle shot perfectly shows the damage done as well as the Lyttelton landscape.

Barney Gray was surprisingly fond of the floodwater she found herself surrounded by when she woke up one morning earlier this year.

When reporters arrived to the street, Gray was seen frolicking in the water, having a laugh with some kids and joking that she might throw her togs on and go in for a swim.

She said she hadn’t seen flooding that bad on the street in her 24 years as an Emmett St resident.

Skelton’s shot shows how deep the water was on the street at its peak – nearly halfway up Gray’s home at one point, and up to her knees at the fence around its lowest point.

Svetlana Cohen often has to wear a gas mask because coal smoke from chimneys in Westport is affecting her health.

Her morning routine is similar to most with the dressing gown and coffee, but the presence of the gas mask makes for interesting viewing and is sure to capture attention.

Skelton effectively shows in a still image how her otherwise normal daily routines have been impacted by chimney pollution on the West Coast.

This shot of children being escorted out of the Parliament protests earlier this year shows the perhaps unexpected carnage that ensued as police moved in on the protest camp.

Police were met with heavy resistance from some and many women and children were caught in the middle.

Skelton is well placed to capture this woman protecting the children as she helps them to safety.

Kai Schwoerer

Corrin Webster and his partner Nicole Sutherland pack food parcels at their Hoon Hay Food Bank. The Food Bank, operating from their home, had just received charitable status.

In Schwoerer’s own words, the pair have hearts of gold. Their house was totally packed with food, accommodated by an industrial fridge set up in the driveway (seen in the background).

Contrasting light and shadow use by Schwoerer in this shot allows Webster to be the central focus.

Natalie Hyland-Brook’s uncle Marc Fogel, a US citizen, was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian labour camp for bringing 17 grams of marijuana into the country.

Hyland-Brook and her family want him listed as wrongfully detained by the US government.

The matryoshka doll was a gift from her uncle, so Schwoerer wanted to include this in the frame.

The presence of just the doll and Hyland-Brook in the large window frame is symbolic of the large gap left by her uncle’s absence.

Ruth Vaega looks out of the kitchen window of her Snodgrass home in Westport to check the levels of the Orowaiti River.

She had to bring her artworks from her studio into the bathroom as she prepared for possible flooding in the area.

Vaega was lucky this time as Nelson got the worst of the flooding. However, her property is always at risk when the rain is heavy enough.

The high-rising water outside her window makes for ominous viewing in his particular shot.

Alden Williams

A New Zealand Post cart zooms past as the police armed offenders squad (AOS) prepares to execute a pre-planned search warrant on the East of Christchurch.

Good timing can sometimes be all the difference in capturing a good shot in photo journalism, as shown in this snap by Williams.

The interesting juxtaposition of subjects in this photo crossing paths while carrying out different working mornings tells its story.

A fire investigator examines the damage after a blaze ripped through Banks Avenue school.

The abandoned, already quake-damaged Christchurch school suffered extensive further damage as a result of the fire. It was set to be demolished.

Williams positioning allows the reader to feel as though they’re peering through the school window as a bystander as the fire investigator goes about his work.

Despite only being able to see through the broken window, the damage is still well evidenced.

”Where do I start?”

It’s easy to imagine these were the words of Chris Scott as he attempted to shovel debris away from a drain on his driveway following the Nelson floods earlier this year.

The area was decimated by flood damage and was well encapsulated in this one frame from Williams.

The high angle he uses from the summit of the driveway allows the extended camera lens to peer all the way down to show the damage goes for miles with no obvious end in sight, much like the general Nelson area following the deluge.

Scott’s by-chance head scratch solidifies the predicament he finds himself in.

Anxious punters watch on as their horse gallops in the penultimate race in the New Zealand Trotting Cup.

The array of emotions on display in this shot are vast and well documented by Williams, who had to ensure he waited until the right moment in the race to capture the onlookers faces.

Intrigue, anxiousness and happiness (or laughter?) appear to be the emotions on display here.

Peter Meecham

An ambulance officer who worked with fatal motorcycle crash victim, Sean Dickey, lays flowers and pays his respects at the site of the accident on the corner of Aidenfield Drive and Halswell Road in Christchurch.

Meecham was in the right place at the right time to capture this heartbreaking moment that really speaks for itself.

Members of the 3rd Combat Service Support Battalion from Burnham Military Camp stand watch during the unveiling of a headstone for Christchurch brothers in arms Sgt Thomas Wilson and Prv Robert Moore who fought in World War 1.

They were buried in the same grave in Christchurch, possibly the only time that has happened in New Zealand.

Wilson was badly injured at Passchendaele. He returned to New Zealand but died of a suspected suicide on his birthday May 9, 1919.

Moore, his childhood friend and brother-in-law, suffered severe shell-shock and was treated at Sunnyside, and died in 1960. Both men were buried in the same plot as Wilson’s mother-in-law Minnie.

Zoe Hendry, 5, enjoys the smell of the daffodils in Hagley Park near the hospital on the first day of spring.

The season’s first day brought with it a warm 20-degree day in the Garden City, and Hendry’s positioning amongst the sunflowers seems a fitting tribute to the sunny weather.

Cute child, pretty flowers and a sunny day – how could you possibly go wrong?

White faced herons stalk prey in the shallows as the sun sets over Christchurch Estuary on another fine winters evening in Canterbury.

The sunset and shadowed silhouette of the heron makes for a shot well suited to the environment.

Meecham’s adaptions to suit each season – whether it be Spring or Winter – shows his nose for weather/seasonal based photography.

John Kirk-Anderson

National Party leader Christopher Luxon and deputy leader Nicola Willis respond to applause at their party’s conference in Christchurch earlier this year.

Luxon took aim at the cost of living crisis and crime as he was unveiled as the opposition’s leader, and promised tax cuts while speaking at the Christchurch conference.

The pair also met with a number of the city’s larger business owners to discuss a way forward for the local economy, and drive consumers back into the central city.

Photo and video shop manager Greg Bramwell gets unwelcome déjà vu as his photo and video shop is targeted by ramraiders, twenty years on from the first time he was subject to a similar incident.

Nothing was taken from the shop, but the damage done caused quite the inconvenience, as showed by Kirk-Anderson’s shot as Bramwell attempts to clean up.

Ramraids have been the crime of choice for petty thieves this year and Christchurch has been no exception. Dairies, liquor stores and even camera shops are still being targeted frequently to this day.

A successful photo can often be the product of patiently waiting for your moment, with a keen eye for a subject who could potentially deliver gold at any moment.

This was the case for Kirk-Anderson’s snap of Christchurch punter Matt Clough, who celebrates the moment the horse he betted on crossed the line at the New Zealand Trotting Cup in Addington last month, sending him home with a pocket full of winnings.

Clough had been bubbling away amongst the crowd as the race went on, and Kirk-Anderson waited until the penultimate moment to shoot his reaction to the winning moment.

Heavy winds and a generally crazy year of weather was a capped when a huge tree bordering Hagley Park on Christchurch’s Harper Ave collapsed, crushing a parked car.

Kirk-Anderson was there in quick time to capture the tree strung across the road, which blocked the road for quite some time until firefighters were able to move it out of the way.

Breaking news such as crashes, fires or weather events often require speed and navigation to be able to capture the pivotal moments. Thankfully, this visual journalist has those in abundance.