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The Dome Napier at Sunset

The Dome is an iconic landmark building in the heart of Napier. Built in 1935 it was originally the home of Temperance General Insurance. After the devastating 1931 earthquake destroyed most of the city. The design was based on the architectural style of the day, Art Deco and Spanish Mission. Napier is now internationally recognised as the Art Deco Capital of the World. I have photographed The Dome before. It was on my first visit to the city. Apart from the better angle of the latest photograph above. Getting further from the building and zooming in from across the road makes for better symmetry of the architecture. Taking it at sunset gives the photograph a warm glow. The other thing I notice between the old 2013 photograph of The Dome and the above. The Starbucks Coffee sign has been updated to be more in keeping with the building style and much more subtle. Planning a trip to Napier I considered staying at The Dome. It was the lack of parking that stopped me and ended up in a lovely AirBnB in nearby Hospital Hill.

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Hastings City Art Gallery

Courtyard in front of the art gallery building with square tiles with a painted triangular patterns.

Next door to Hastings library in Civic Square is the art gallery. Te Whare Toi O Heretaunga – Hastings City Art Gallery. Sadly I didn’t have time to explore inside the gallery. Next time I’m in the city I plan to explore the exhibitions. On first impressions I wasn’t going to photograph this building. The colourful tiles in the square in front of the building drew me to the gallery. It’s a shame that the paint seems to be a little faded or weathered. That may be intentional. On the day I was there it was very quiet in the square and I only saw a couple of other people.

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Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth

Driving through the centre of New Plymouth it would be impossible to not see this building. Day or night it stands out as an extreme contrast to the surrounding architecture. This is the Len Lye Centre. A modern (2015) extension to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. This is New Zealand’s first gallery dedicated to a single artist. Taken from in front of the Clock Tower On Devon Street West. If you look closely you can see the clock tower, lit up in green and purple lights reflected in the building. It was dusk when this was photographed. Using a 30 second long exposure helped capture the blur of car’s white headlights and red tail lights as people drove past. Designed by architect Andrew Patterson. It has a highly polished, stainless steel exterior that curves around the sides of the gallery. From almost any angle this looks futuristic and so unusual. The only difficulty I had was not photographing myself or my tripod reflecting in the building.

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The Quays Theatre at night

This is The Lowry, a theatre and gallery space in the heart of Salford Quays. The tall building on the right is the 16 floor Imperial Point apartments. Some of my earliest night time photographs were taken around Salford Quays. It had been 10 years since I’d been back and not a huge amount had changed. This was the second photograph from this spot. Taken during heavy rain on a short photo shoot with my friend Mark. We were stood in front of the Imperial War Museum North.