The Petone Winter Carnival has been going for 7 years but for some reason it always seemed to clash with other things I had to do so this was the first year that I have managed to attend.

It is a combination of activities that run from mid day and concludes with a fireworks display. It also includes a fire event where groups build sculptures during the day and at night they are set alight. I am not sure about the wisdom of some groups who placed fireworks inside their creations and I am sure that quite a few jackets suffered damage from the flying embers.

The original forecast for the day was rain but as luck would have it the conditions ended up being perfect.

Shooting in falling light is always a great challenge. Shooting burning objects has its own challenges as well as you go from little to too much light very quickly. And then there are fireworks  that present their own issues.

To get a taste of the event I have chosen a simple selection of images