Bruce Jarvis has long been regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading media and music photographers, with his work published internationally.
Bruce began his career in 1968 with the Taranaki Daily News.
He launched into the concert photography for which he is renowned in February 1971, when he covered Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, British singer Roger Whittaker and Kiwi pop rock band Hogsnort Rupert at the Bowl of Brooklands.
“My first Auckland concert was Johnny Cash at Western Springs in March 1971,” Bruce recalls.
“Then came Led Zeppelin, Mungo Jerry & Edison Lighthouse, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, Three Dog Night & The Guess Who, The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival, The Sweet, and The Rolling Stones in 1973.”
He left for England to work at London’s Evening Standard, which published four of his Stones images from Western Springs, including a front-page picture of Mick Jagger in full voice.
After nearly 2 years away Bruce settled back in New Zealand in 1975, where he started his own black and white film and print-processing business called Prism Processing.
“I continued covering concerts. My last after about 50 was Neil Young in 1985, and after that I stuck to my day job.” In 2009, Bruce and fellow former Star staffer Josh Easby published a hard-cover coffee table book called Live - Gigs That Rocked New Zealand.
Bruce still works as a corporate photographer in Auckland whilst involved in the Whakaangi Landcare Trust, which has a 2400ha forest in the far North, doing pest control. It’s the furthest northern home of the North Island brown kiwi.
