A man whose photography has featured in The News, and who took first prize in the 2022 Autumn Festival photo competition died unexpectedly on December 29.
Brian Holden … musician, photographer, piano tuner and much more besides.
Talented photographer Brian Holden died while pursuing another of his many passions. He was at the Hamilton Model Aero Club with fellow enthusiasts when he died suddenly, aged 78.
Gordon Meads, one of those enthusiasts, spoke at his funeral service this month. Brian had been a regular participant, he said, joining soon after he and his wife Ngaire moved to Cambridge four years ago. His generosity in taking and sharing photographs extended to quietly replacing a tatty old windsock and pole at the club when it was mentioned in passing.
The drone images Brian took for The News included a spectacular early morning town shot used by architect Antanas Procuta when delivering a talk last month at the Cambridge Historical Society’s annual meeting. The photograph of the road to Maungatautari from the Town Clock showed why the grid laid out in 1863 could be five degrees out. Other images used by The News have included an aerial photograph of the water tower at Cambridge Resthaven.
It was a simple black and white image of the Leamington Band Rotunda that won Brian first prize in the 2022 Cambridge Autumn Festival photo competition. Antanas Procuta, who was on that judging panel for the first time that year, described the shot as “crisply capturing the intricate Victorian detail”.
The winning image in the Photo Competition, the Leamington Band Rotunda, was taken by Cambridge’s Brian Holden.
Brian’s photography journey started right out of Rotorua Boys’ High, working with the now late photographer Peter Fenwick. While still at school, a band he formed with some mates, The Roulettes, netted the young musos a diary fat with gigs and won them a prize in the 1962 Rotorua Talent Quest.
BRIAN HOLDEN: 28.11.1946 – 29.12.2024
Ever the adventurer, he went overseas for a while, during which time he ended up selling cheese at Selfridges. Once back home, Brian went on to photograph thousands of weddings and learned a raft of new skills. He got into the grocery business in his hometown of Rotorua and became an expert piano tuner, tuning his last one in Hamilton a fortnight before he died. In recent years, he tuned many Cambridge pianos.
Brian also hankered after flying and obtained his commercial pilot’s licence. He added a BSc in psychology and earth sciences to the mix, which when combined with flying, led to him becoming Rotorua’s go-to weather expert.
It was in Rotorua he met dental therapist Ngaire, quite by chance. He dialled a wrong number, liked the sound of Ngaire, who answered the phone, and the rest is history. Married for 44 years, there were still surprises, she said, along with numerous hidden sweet wrappers.
Brian’s funeral service at Leamington’s Seventh Day Adventist Church was infused with his music. Parts of it were more like a gig than a farewell, but by all accounts, that’s exactly what he would have wanted.
The road to Maungatautari from the Town Clock showing why the grid laid out in 1863 might be five degrees out. Photo: Brian Holden.
A drone shot of Cambridge’s historic St Andrew’s Anglican Church with the tip of its spire at 33 metres (107 feet) the highest point in the town. Photo: Brian Holden.
A drone shot taken in July 2024. Photo: Brian Holden.
It doesn’t take much to bring the roading network in the lower Waikato to a crawl – and here’s the evidence. Photo: Brian Holden.
Brian Holden with Antanas Procuta. Photo: Michael Jeans.
