Renowned outdoorsman Shaun Barnett’s last collaboration with publisher and friend Robbie Burton is a photographic tribute to Shaun’s career. Burton shares the story behind A Wild Life: Photographs from the backcountry of Aotearoa.

You’ve mentioned an ‘eery synchronicity’ in how the book came about. 

The day I heard Shaun’s diagnosis was likely terminal, I was walking home feeling really glum. I thought, what can I do for my friend? I was walking up the driveway and it was a really clear moment: I can publish a book of his photographs, which had never been done before. I went straight inside and rang Shaun, and he’d had the same idea – I don’t know if it was at the same time, but it was certainly within the hour. It was a beautiful moment and we agreed it would be a wonderful thing to do. He didn’t get to see the finished book, but I was able to take him a full trimmed proof not long before he died. It was a really nice acknowledgement of both a friendship and a professional relationship.

Shaun had some 30 years of photos to draw from. How were they selected?

First, we agreed on the concept: it would be a reflection of his tramping life. This gives it a slightly different take from other scenic photography books – there’s lots of people and huts and places where people tramp. Then he submitted huge folders of photographs on the main areas and I went through and honed them down.

Shaun liked my eye in terms of what I thought was a good photo. I have a lot of experience photo-editing and a deep knowledge of his photographs because I’ve been publishing with him for a long time, so I knew what I thought the standouts were. The cover photo has always been a huge favourite of mine. So, I was championing for that and Shaun didn’t take any persuading. 

It feels like the book has Wellington at its centre. Was that deliberate?

It was. Unlike many of the wilderness photographers I’ve worked with who are South Island centric, Shaun learned to love the outdoors in the North Island. The Ruahine, the Kāweka and the Tararua – these were his home patches. That’s what’s different about this book, it’s got a strong North Island focus that starts in Wellington, because that’s who he was.

Which book did you and Shaun first collaborate on?

His friend and fellow photographer Rob Brown wandered into my office one day with his beautiful big transparencies and I could tell straight away this guy was talented. We had published a book on the Great Walks, written by Craig Potton, and Rob’s idea was to do a sister publication, Classic Tramping in New Zealand (1999) – slightly more hard-arsed and classic trips that people could aspire to. Rob and Shaun had been friends since university. They co-wrote the book and provided the photos. It was very successful and from that it progressed into all kinds of things. The biggest project we did was Shelter from the Storm (published in 2012, a revised edition will be available in December). Shaun had a huge role in driving that book. He was a very gifted project manager.

You write in the foreword to A wild life that it was Shaun’s character that made you want to spend time with him. 

He was a man of enormous integrity. He was very authentic and thoughtful, completely trustworthy. He was also generous to a fault. He’d never come near you without a present. The last time I went to see him, of course he had a book he’d bought for me – Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain. We talked a lot about books and literature over the years. Shaun read all the time, and read widely. He was one of the best, a seriously lovely human and much loved for damn good reason.