For 135 years, Christchurch photography studio Standish and Preece captured Cantabrians on camera.

The studio, which closed in 2020, was New Zealand’s longest-running photography business.

Standish and Preece: Christchurch Photographers, 1885–2020 showcases a selection of the 80,000 images captured by the studio and now held in Canterbury Museum’s collection.

These images document the changing faces of Cantabrians as well as the changing business of photography.

Visit a replica early twentieth-century photography studio complete with Standish and Preece’s Century camera.

Search for family and friends among the displayed photos and see fashion trends develop, demographics change and Christchurch itself develop and grow.

Standish and Preece’s photos provide a window on more than a century of life in Canterbury.