Photography legend gifts scholarship

98-year old Alf Rendell’s wide smile and cheeky sense of humour greeted the room of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic staff and Bachelor of Creative Industries (BCI) students. He was there to be honoured for his gift to the Polytechnic – a $50,000 endowment fund which will fund an annual $2,000 photographic scholarship in his name.

Alf is well known in Tauranga; he followed his father (Robert) into photography as a 17-year old school leaver and after serving in the army during WWII, he returned home and ran the family-owned photography business. A business Alf’s son also eventually took over from him.

Between 1946 and 1956 Alf had friends who were learner pilots and it was during flights with them that he discovered a passion for aerial photography. He would pay for his friends’ flying time just so he could go up with them and take photos over Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty.

These photographs remained unpublished until a few years ago when Alf decided they could be put to better use in a calendar or small booklet. It was during conversations with his friend Fiona Kean, a local Tauranga historian, that the idea to put together a coffee table book of his post-war aerial photos grew. Late last year Alf’s 160-page book ‘Tauranga – Historic Tauranga From Above’ was published and stocked in local bookstores.

Legacy Trust underwrote the publication of the book and the profit has been donated to Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in the form of the ‘Alf Rendell Photography Scholarship’. Each year one deserving BCI student with a keen interest in photography will be awarded the scholarship. Students are required to submit a photography portfolio in order to apply for the scholarship.

Gill Brocas, Head of School, Design & Humanities recognises the incredible gift that Alf has given the Polytechnic. “The scholarship will give one lucky student much welcomed financial support while the profile of being the scholarship winner will grow their arts and industry credibility which is invaluable in the creative industries.”

When asked if Alf had any advice for the students in the room he humbly replied, “Getting a great photo is all luck.” Looking at the skill in his work we think he may have been stretching the truth just a little!