Following the fans through an oval-shaped lens

Photographic design staff and students are calling on the public to help document New Zealand’s experience of hosting the Rugby World Cup with photos of how individuals and communities have celebrated the event.

Off the Pitch seeks to capture images showing how the tournament has become a vehicle for the passion New Zealanders and tourists have demonstrated for the country’s national sport.

Members of the documentary photography project, based on the Wellington campus, have already spent the opening weeks frantically snapping pictures covering aspects of the rugby tournament off the field ranging from the fan zones to the transformation of public space and elements of rugby tourism – and now want to see your photos too.

Throughout the duration of the tournament, Off the Pitch photographic essays and photographer commentaries can be viewed at www.offthepitch.co.nz/blog/, and they invite entries to be uploaded by the public.

Off the Pitch photographer John Lake intends the project to articulate a greater insight into what makes New Zealand tick as a society. “Like it or hate it, rugby is ingrained in the national psyche.”

Photographic design graduate Olivia Taylor’s project called The Watchers, captures fans in their comfort zone on the sofa watching the drama of the tournament in their own home.

‘It’s a part of the ritual of watching not normally covered by the mainstream media – people viewing the match around their own TV.”

Having been invited to several fans’ homes already, including the opening match between the All Blacks and Tonga, Ms Taylor is hoping to photograph many more before the whistle is blown on the tournament for the final time.

Her images are intended to join others snapped as a photographic record to be offered to the Archive of Contemporary Culture at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Another of the project photographers, Simon Mark, sees the concept as offering the public a chance to stamp their own indelible imprint on the tournament.

“It’s an opportunity for the public to contribute to the archive. Memories and records of significant moments in New Zealand’s history are important, and the more of these the better.”