Art and Craft Fair

Lisa from Puffitque invited us along to the Auckland Art and Craft Fair to get some inspiration for our own D.I.Y projects. Fully immersed in the realm of creativity and design, we went camera crazy and here are just some of the things that caught our eye. We are really excited for future craft fairs as we are planning on setting up a stall with Pufftique sometime next year, or possibly helping out with her stall. There is still a lot of research and planning to do as well as a display case that needs to be designed and built... good thing the next Auckland Art and Craft Fair is six months away.

Art in the Dark

Recently I got recommended a "job" from a friend, who introduced me to the annual event that is held at Western Park called Art in the Dark. I blindly volunteered to be the event photographer, not realising the obvious that the event is 100% in the dark. So the first thing I turned to was Google. Read as many tutorials as possible. Not like they helped much since my ISO on my Canon 40D can only go up so high and my Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 was probably not the most suitable lense for the occasion. I made the inevitable conclusion... I will definitely need a flashgun and tripod.They say the best camera is the one you have at that moment in time.... I certainly felt the weight of it. I was assigned to take photos of the performances, so I spent the two nights running around with my gear up and down Western Park. To my horror I found out Western Park is located at the point where two gullies merge and slopes downwards to create one mother of a steep hill. Lets just say I got quite a workout over the two nights and afterwards I celebrated by not moving very much for the next few days.

A dramatic performance by the Tamashii Taiko Drummers

Gently Through The Veil I Heard You Call by Tiffany Singh. One of the most popular installations at Art in the Dark. With the wind, the sound of wooden wind chimes calls to the visitors.

Halo by AUT students. Little paper boxes that have LED lights inside which turn on when you blow them up.

Art in the Dark Cinema

Left: Light Gate by Interrupt Collective & Kim Newall
Right: Enigmatica by Kit Webster

I'm really glad I went because I got to meet some amazing people and got the opportunity to actually talk to artists about their work and learnt how they would like their work to be photographed. Would I do it again though? Maybe, if I train a little before the event next year...

UPDATE: I recently went back to the website to have a look and I spotted this! Now I got the warm fuzzies YAY!

A View From the Top

A couple of days ago, I was invited to Nina's apartment for lunch and a chinwag. I've been to many student apartments in the city and most of them are pretty disappointing and in one case... haunted. However, I was not prepared for this one.

Not only did the apartment get good sunlight throughout the year, a contrast to some dingy dark caves I've been used to, but the views from the balcony were extraordinary. Views that stretched from the High Court Building to Grafton Bridge and glimpse of the harbour on the other side.