FOTOFEST is back for another year, celebrating all things photography with loads to see and do … with or without a camera.

Encompassing Hastings, Havelock North and Napier, this dynamic two week event kicks off September 19th, in time for the school holidays. 

This year there are more than 50 photographers, locally and from across the country as well as two international photographers taking part. Exhibitions can be found within participating businesses as well as work exhibited within the two community galleries ( Hastings Arts Inc and Napier CAN). 

There are some great workshops you can join if you want to brush up on your photography skills, find out how to create a zine, listen in on a floor talk or join one of NZ’s leading birdlife photographers for a live shoot. There are workshops for the kids as well as a great school holiday “camera find” competition. 

In Napier’s CAN Gallery, view a collective exhibition of 18 photographers work in the main gallery, as well as “Yesterday, today, tomorrow” an exhibition of 1950s Napier city images showing for the first time.

In Hastings, Arts Inc will show a number of exhibitions, including the annual IHCNZ Capture the Moment, celebrating nature images exhibited by people living with an intellectual disability. All work is for sale and always of a high standard. 

Upstairs, FOTOFEST youth competition and exhibition winning and finalists images are on display, plus an amazing exhibition, Voices of Hope, Behind the Smile, an exhibition that spotlights 11 everyday kiwis who have navigated arduous mental health challenges throughout their lives. You will also find the Hawke’s Bay Photographic Society members exhibition upstairs. 

Follow the photo trail, have your camera with you and join in the “Harvey Norman 24 hours in the Bay” photo competition, capturing our place over a 24 hour time frame. 

Head to www.fotofest.nz for the full programme and download the map from the 15th September.