“When I was 12 years old living in Hastings, New Zealand I had a milk run. I would deliver milk 5 days a week, in the mornings from 5.30am until around 7am before I went to school. I had a trolley that could take 5 milk crates which I pushed around the blocks of Parkvale, Mahora and Mayfair”.

“There weren’t too many people around at that hour. It was peaceful and I had time to make all sorts of observations. Because the run was the same every day I started to notice how people looked after their sections or embellished their homes. Little things like a new plant here or there, an ornament on the front lawn, the carport painted, a new letterbox or fresh curtains”.

“I think it was the beginning of me observing things. I was making a conscious decision to actually look at things and try to understand what was going on. I’m pretty sure it played a large part in me becoming a photographer”.

“Now I have returned to those streets in the Hastings area where I grew up in the 70’s. I simply started to photograph these homes and so developed a series of images called ‘Milk Run’. They are modest homes that people are proud of and have made their own, where their lives are played out every day”.

Derek Henderson, 2020.