Wednesday 26 February 2014

Art Deco Weekend 2014

Last weekend was Napier's Art Deco Weekend which is the culmination of a week of art deco related, and many not so related, events.  I've blogged about it many times before.  Here are just a few pictures to give you a flavour of the event.

Harvard Trainer
Air Display
Perhaps not so 1930s?
Picnics on the beach
...with Bluff Hill in the background
A fraction of the Napier Ukulele Band
The Art Deco T & G Building and Marine Parade
There's always a traction engine for Adrian
Probably less unpleasant in the mid 30s Celsius than many of the other uniforms and dresses being worn.
The bike is a match for and fits onto the back of the car she is riding towards.
Fun in Emerson Street
The Soundshell from the new Napier Museum and Art Gallery
Gardens and sea from the Napier Museum and Art Gallery.
Gallery view Napier Museum and Art Gallery.

25 comments:

  1. The light is so lovely and bright but what was that sailor doing to the young lady sharing his bicycle in Emerson Street? In broad daylight too! It's disgusting.

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    1. Ah you've obviously never lived dangerously YP.

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  2. You had a very fun day. Some of the clothes ware pretty interesting. so there must have been reenactments.

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    1. No re-enactments Red. It's a day when lots and lots of people just get dressed up in 1930s garb to celebrate the art deco inheritance of the current city of Napier.

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  3. I think I remember last year's Art Deco Weekend post.
    In the 3rd picture from above, the lady with the tattoo: her dress is great, her tattoo is not... but what is even less fitting with the dress is her long hair, and so is the hat. The men I can see in that picture are all very well dressed! There is one lady in the ukulele band whose dress I wouldn't mind having (although I'd like it a bit shorter).
    Beautiful pictures of what was certainly a beautiful weekend! Were you dressed in line with the theme, Graham?

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    1. Meike as tattoos go here in NZ that is a very discrete one. I'm not a lover of tattoos but they are very popular among Maori and Pacific Island cultures and increasingly so amongst the European immigrants (but not, so far as I can see, the Asian ones). There were a lot of very much more attractive dresses too. Perhaps I should have taken even more photos although I do have quite a lot.

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    2. PS Meike No I wasn't dressed up in clothes from that era although I did make an effort to be reasonably smart.

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  4. Looks like another great weekend. Love the shot of the girl on the bike. The one riding it herself, not the other one, she looks very uncomfortable, probably her bum is too boney. The steam engine for Adrian looks good, too.

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    1. Pauline there were a lot of bikes around (but then, as you know, NZ is a country of cyclists) although this year I didn't actually see anyone riding a penny farthing.

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    1. Thank you Fiona. It is a lovely weekend where so many people make an effort.

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  6. What an incredibly beautiful fun-filled weekend for you......so happy that the sun was shining so brightly.
    The photos are lovely as usual.
    I haven't seen a gentleman "bar" a lady on a bicycle for years....brings back so many childhood memories.
    That way was actually a mode of transport here many many many years ago

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    1. Virginia it's always a lovely weekend with lots and lots going on all week leading up to it. It's also very poignant when the earthquake victims are remembered. I hadn't seen anyone riding a bike like that for years and I suspect that it's o road traffic offence these days anyway.

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  7. Bright blue skies, Norfolk pines ~ reminds me a lot of Redcliffe North of Brisbane. Seems strange seeing people not wear bike helmets. Great pics GB.

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    1. Carol helmets are compulsory here police and public opinion make it rare for them not to be worn even on cycle paths in the country. I think these were just exceptions because of the 'period' element and I suspect even if there had been police around a blind eye would have been turned.

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  8. Looks fab! And did you take that top picture? It is brilliant! I was really struck when I opened the page and saw it there, almost as if it was roaring past my window somehow.

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    1. Thanks Jenny. Yes I did take the top picture: one of the advantages of a high-magnification lens.

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  9. GB, do you print off your photos, or keep them electronically? I always think the old way is best, because you can keep,them separate from any computer or camera, and for a serious photographer like you, that would be very useful? I have a daughter in law who,has a complete pictorial record in albums, one for every year, going back for most of her life. I so wish I'd done something like that, even though I'm a lousy photographer.

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    1. Frances I have cabinets full of photos I have taken since I was in my teens (and a few from before that) and am in the process of going through them and digitising and cataloguing what I want to keep and disposing of those I don't want. I shall keep the originals of the ones I digitise. I keep all negatives. I keep am in the process of getting some of the photos and my blogs printed into books. I have over 120,000 digital images and heaven knows how many prints. The biggest advantage of digital images is that they can be easily accessed and catalogued. Another is that they can be stored safely. I have four backups of everything: two of which are stored away from my house and in two separate locations. I might lose everything else I possess but I should never lose my photos. Digitising all the photo albums of the children's early years also meant that when my wife and I separated it was easy to give her a complete copy of everything. As for being a lousy photographer Frances you can do whatever you want when it comes to family photos: if you wanted to you could. That is the difference between you and me: you could take photos if you wanted to but I could not write a novel if I wanted to.

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  10. It really does make me wish I could have been there.
    A grand post.

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    1. Adrian with traction engines and steam trains and a super soap box derby and so much more you would really really love it.

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  11. O geweldig wat een prachtige oldtimers en de mooie outfits en dan de Harvard trainer dit is puur genieten.

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    1. Er zullen meer oldtimers naar Bas komen.

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  12. Wonderful series of pictures. The whole event looks quite enchanting. It makes me long for summer and colours... (Although I know that if I were there I'd most likely soon be complaining about the heat!)

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    1. Monica I'm sure that you would not have liked the heat but you would have put up with it and enjoyed a week packed with things to do and things to see.

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