Year of the Lantern Blog

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Lantern Festival by Gareth Trevor

MEDIA RELEASE 20 January 2009 – Auckland Festival of Photography

Year of the Lantern Blog

The Auckland Festival of Photography’s new project LANTERN invites all 100.000 annual visitors to Lantern Festival in Auckland to capture the vibrant culture of the Chinese New Year celebrations with their cameras. Julia Durkin, Festival 2009, says “it’s the best photo shoot at night, and we invite entries to an online exhibition during February. It will be created by the public, is a unique opportunity and a great way for people to show off their photos to the wider community. 2009 is the Year of the Lantern Blog”.

It is estimated that the annual Lantern Festival is photographed more than any other night time Festival in Auckland, with an unknown but possible quarter of a million clicks per day to capture the flavour of Auckland’s biggest Asian celebration. Participants in the blog will be asked to say how many photos they took overall so we can get an idea of the scale of the photographic documentation.

Entries can be uploaded to the Auckland Photo Blog throughout February - www.aucklandphotographyfestival.org.nz/photo-blog - the blog prize is sponsored by Gravity “Official Coffee Sponsor” & project sponsor is AsiaNZ Foundation.

At Chinese New Year LANTERN is an opportunity for all photographers; established, emerging, youth and novice to capture the many elements that come together to create this great spectacle of light and colour in Albert Park from February 6th to 8th and display it in themed blog. The AsiaNZ Chinese Lantern Festival attracts over 100,000 people over three days. Previous Lantern Festival images are also eligible.

Entries can be sent for LANTERN from February 1st and close on February 28th via the website: www.aucklandphotographyfestival.org.nz/photo-blog. Online voting will allow people to vote for their favourites in a People’s Choice.

The Auckland Festival of Photography is a highlight of the annual arts calendar; the festival is Auckland's only free 3 week arts and cultural festival, all over the region including Auckland City, Franklin District, North Shore City, Manukau City and Waitakere City. Festival Dates are 29 May – 21st June 2009.

Creative Exposure Festival 2009 is supported by ASIA NZ Foundation, Gravity “Official Coffee Sponsor”, Heart of The City, Metrolink, North Shore City Council, Franklin District Creative Communities, Auckland City Creative Communities, Community Organisation Grants Scheme, Waitakere City Council, Olympus, and The ASB Community Trust.

ENDS

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