Here's a great chance to snap dragons

Last year's show attracted more than 140,000 visitors. Picture / Dean Purcell

Whether it's a disposable or a digital model with all the extras, take your camera to this weekend's Auckland Lantern Festival in Albert Park, which opens this Friday night.

Anyone - whether novice or professional photographer - can enter a new competition which aims to capture the colour, flavour and people of the festival.

"Lantern" is run by organisers of the annual Auckland Festival of Photography, which takes place June 2-24 and is supported by the bridge-building Asia New Zealand Foundation which oversees the free festivals in Auckland and Wellington.

Contest publicist Michelle Lafferty says the competition aims to capture the visitor's view of the popular three-night event.

The contest isn't necessarily about "flash cameras - we will be giving away some disposables," says Ms Lafferty. The closing date for submissions is February 26 and the winning images appear at the Aotea Centre during the annual photography festival.

The Lantern Festival, also known as the Spring Festival in China, signals the end of Lunar New Year festivities.

It is now one of New Zealand's largest cultural events. About 140,000 people packed into Albert Park and Princes St last year to view colourful lanterns hung from trees and sample food and cultural displays.

This is the seventh lantern festival to be held in Auckland, where schools are participating in a lantern-making competition.

A renowned dragon and lion dance group from Singapore will perform in this year's festival.

Craftsmen from Shanghai will demonstrate a traditional toffee maker, a dough figurine maker, a cut-while-you-wait silhouette maker and a lantern-maker.

Toffee-makers are often a fixture at New Year temple fairs, says Jennifer King, culture director of Asia NZ.