When I first started in the editor’s role, I remember getting a call from a bloke called Ken Bell. He said, “Oh, congrats on the job. I’m a truck driver and a keen photographer. I’ve done a bit for the magazine from time to time, and if there’s anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to yell out.” Put simply, an easy-to-get-on-with bloke with a love of trucks, trucking, and recording the industry’s history through the viewfinder. It’s still the Ken I deal with today. He’s been on the scene for longer than he’d probably want to think about and must have a treasure chest of Southland trucking history. — Dave McCoid

Ken says: “When Dave contacted me about contributing to this column, I thought, ‘Oh yeah, submit half a dozen influential, inspirational photos, how hard can that be?’ But after sifting through thousands of photos, I managed to tighten things up to dozens, every one of them holding a special memory or message.

“I first got into taking photos of the trucks passing our family farm in rural Southland using a Kodak Instamatic camera when I was a boy. Only a few of those photographs are worth reproducing, but they hold special memories for me.

“As time went on, I got better equipment but was still pretty frugal with photo subjects. Things are a lot more relaxed today with the advent of digital. I prefer to take photos of trucks in their working environment rather than posing them and don’t mind a bit of dirt from a working day.”