Wellington Lux 2013

The annual Wellington Lux festival of light took place from the 21st-24th June 2013 and for the general public the attraction was a number of installations set up around Wellington city. Due to the stormy weather earlier in the week the first night where the installations could be viewed was on Saturday 22nd. Saturday night wasn’t very pleasant in the city with a cold wind and intermittent showers that occasionally turned to rain. Starting on the waterfront I quickly had mostly numb hands and had to set up my camera so it wasn’t facing into the wind to help prevent water spots on the lens. The one benefit of the rain was lots of water on the ground which created good reflections, which led to some more interesting photography. I also returned on Sunday evening for a walk around with Keryn and also as part of a Wellington Photography Meetup. Sunday being the much more pleasant evening with clear skies, almost no wind and a super moon to keep us company.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

The installations were all interesting though naturally I had my favourites. T?rama Pou was quite dramatic and totem like. Digital Wattle could be watched for a long time, the changing lights and patterns quite mesmerizing (especially on the Saturday with the stronger wind).

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Next up on the favourite list was Blend. This one required interaction with a crank connected to three light strips. Turning the crank rotated each of the light strips and when photographed they appeared as three blended circles of light. Lots of people were having fun with this one, though on the Sunday night it appeared to be broken with one of the chains missing which was a pity.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Down an alleyway the architectural installation Atmospheric Tessellation hid around a corner and was popular with passers by. A strange glowing construction it seemed to sit like a misplaced piece of some alien hallway that had landed in a dirty back corner of the city. On Saturday night with the sounds of dripping water and broken reflections it was quite eerie.

A short way further along the alleyway the Tracing Transience installation hung between two buildings. The strung up lines of doves pulsed with light in sequence giving a sense of movement. It was harder to photograph on the Saturday due to the rain but the extra glow and smears from the later on the lens add to the atmosphere of the photo.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

The festival has been getting bigger and brighter each year, I’m already looking forward to what might be shown next year.