Auckland’s newest lighting installation launched on Queens Birthday weekend. Bright Nights is a vibrant and welcome addition to the viaduct harbour and is a great free night walk with the kids in Winter & to practice night time photography.
Bright Nights is collaboration between award-winning light designer Angus Muir (creator of the Vivid Sydney light show). It takes the party atmosphere of the Viaduct to a new level and gives a sparkling, shining base for the city to rest on.
If you are taking the kids…
I took the kids along for the launch weekend. The viaduct was transformed from my stomping ground of years gone by to a multicoloured, vibrant playground with loads of kids around the odd tipsy partygoer.
The kids loved the atmosphere of being in the city at night (it was 8pm so not too full on by then, but enough so between 6pm and 9pm in Winter would be perfect). The lights, the dinner buzz and the fact that there were other kids in there too give it a safer, more festive feel too as they pranced through the city in their zebra onesies and slippers. Oh to be that young again and not give a damn what you wear!
If you are taking photos….
Bright Nights is a great place to get some creative night time photos with the paths littered with photographers all taking different angles of the city.
I stopped and chatted with a few people, sharing tips along the way.
Here’s a few of my top tips for getting a good photo on the night as well as a few of the angles I got….
- Bring a tripod – if you find yourself down there without one then use the benches or walls to rest your camera on
- To turn the water to silk, create light trails and get starbursts from the lights then turn the shutter speed right down.
- If you want to capture the lights (they change colour pretty quickly) you are are going to have to speed things up.
- Get creative. I had the kids with me so I didn’t do too much but get up high, down low and shoot through interesting spaces.
- Take a friend. It’s so much more fun (and a bit safer too)
As always, we would love to see the shots you have got down there too…
