Art Deco Festival Event Photography, Portrait Photography, for the Art Deco Trust, Napier

Napier is one of the most remarkable cities in the Southern Hemisphere when it comes to architectural history. Following the devastating 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people and levelled much of the city, Napier was rebuilt almost entirely within a two-year period. What emerged was a city frozen in the architectural fashions of the early 1930s — Art Deco, Spanish Mission, and Stripped Classical styles that remain largely intact today. That concentration of period architecture in a single city is virtually unmatched anywhere in the world, and it's what draws thousands of visitors to Napier every year, particularly during the annual Art Deco Weekend.

The Art Deco Weekend is one of New Zealand's great regional festivals — a long weekend every February where the city comes alive with vintage cars, period costumes, live music, garden parties, and guided architectural walks. For anyone with a camera it's an extraordinary event to be part of, and as a Hawke's Bay event photographer I had an absolute blast documenting it.

The Art Deco Trust commissioned me to cover their full programme of events across the festival weekend — a fantastic brief for a Hawke's Bay commercial photographer. They needed imagery to promote the festival to future attendees and to showcase the event to the world, so the coverage was comprehensive. Portraits, street photography, costumed crowds, performances, and the stunning Art Deco streetscapes of Napier's CBD — it was one of those shoots where every frame had something interesting in it.

It was also a genuinely special weekend on a personal level. As someone who lives here in Hawke's Bay, seeing the festival return after a long hiatus due to COVID-19 and Cyclone Gabrielle was really moving. The weather turned it on, the crowds were massive, and the energy in the city was something else. I loved every minute of it.

If you're an event organiser looking for a Hawke's Bay event photographer to cover your festival, conference, or community event, I'd love to hear from you.