Antonia Prebble - Art Deco marketing portrait shoot for an international PR Agency
Nationally prominent New Zealand actress Antonia Prebble is best known to Kiwi audiences for her iconic roles in Outrageous Fortune and its prequel Westside, two of New Zealand's most celebrated television series. I had the privilege of photographing Antonia for an international PR agency as part of a national media campaign promoting Hawke's Bay's Art Deco Weekend.
The images were used extensively across national media, featuring in several prominent publications including the New Zealand Listener, as well as wide online distribution. For a Hawke's Bay commercial photographer, landing a shoot of this scale — a nationally recognised actress, an international agency brief, and national publication placement — is about as good as it gets. I was genuinely stoked to be asked, and incredibly proud to represent the region in this way.
Hawke's Bay's Art Deco Weekend is one of New Zealand's great regional festivals, drawing visitors from across the country and internationally every February to experience Napier's extraordinary collection of 1930s architecture. Following the devastating 1931 earthquake that levelled the city, Napier was rebuilt almost entirely in the Art Deco, Spanish Mission, and Stripped Classical styles of the era — a concentration of period architecture that is virtually unmatched anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. The festival celebrates that unique heritage with vintage cars, period costumes, live music, and events across the city.
Shooting Antonia against that backdrop was a genuinely special experience. The brief from the agency required images that would work hard across both print and digital — clean, striking, and immediately communicating the glamour and personality of the festival. As a Hawke's Bay event photographer regularly working with local organisations and national clients, this was exactly the kind of project that reminds you why you do this work.
If you're an agency, organisation, or business looking for a Hawke's Bay commercial photographer for your next campaign, I'd love to hear from you.
