Hastings District Council launches lightbox photo competition

Six lightboxes in Hastings' city centre will soon feature photographs taken by local residents. Photo / John Cowpland / Alphapix Photography

Lightboxes around Hastings' city centre will soon feature photographs taken by local residents.

A competition launched by Hastings District Council encourages locals to take and submit high-resolution photos of what they love about Hastings.

The council will select 24 photos and print them on to panels for six solar-powered lightboxes in Civic Square, the city centre mall and outside Toitoi – Hawke's Bay Arts & Events Centre.

Hastings District Council arts & culture manager Megan Peacock-Coyle says the lightboxes, which are more than 2m tall and were installed after lockdown as part of the arts, culture and events recovery plan, are a way to bring more art and intrigue into the city.

"As a team, the arts and culture staff within council are all really proud of Hastings and we know we're not alone.

"So the idea of this competition grew out of that local pride - we want to use these lightboxes to share with each other what we love about Hastings.

"We want you to capture what Hastings-Heretaunga means to you and share it with your community."

There is no limit to the subject matter, the competition is open to all ages and photos must be at least 300 dpi or 5MB in size.

The final selection will aim to include a range of ages, people, cultures and locations.

Each photographer's name will be printed on their panel and the selection criteria are based on the Toi-Tū Hawke's Bay strategic framework.

"We really want to see people's creativity in action," Megan says.

"You don't have to be a professional photographer, as we believe everyone has innate artistic ability - every single one of us can snap a photo of something or someone local that we love. That's really what we're after."

You must own your photograph and have the permission of anyone in it to publish it on the lightboxes. Portrait orientation is preferable as that is the shape of the lightbox panels.

Entries close on June 13, with the new panels installed soon after.

To submit your photo to be considered for the arts and culture lightboxes, go to hastingsdc.govt.nz/yourheretaunga