17 Retro-Style Photos From Small Town New Zealand

I guess there are two backstories to this story.

The first is that I have developed a fondness for retro-style photos, which you’ll be aware of if you follow my photo blog.

The second is that having just arrived back from a 5,300 kilometre motorhome trip around the North Island of New Zealand I have lots more photos of small town New Zealand, most of which lend themselves to the retro-style, to share.

My enjoyment of retro-style photos started about a year ago when I first published Postcards From The North Island.

Since then there have been some follow-up stories – Postcards From The North Island Part 2, Postcards From Europe in which I gave a brief overview of how I create retro postcard-style photos using the Nik Collection, and more recently, a collection of images from small town New Zealand.

In this story, the trend continues – more retro-style photos created with the Nik Collection.

Not to be confused with vintage photos, which by definition are genuinely old such as photos originally shot on film in the 1950s, 60s or 70s, retro-style photos are digital photos post-processed in a manner designed to evoke feelings of nostalgia – feelings of by-gone times – by taking inspiration from vintage photography styles which may have developed from individual photographers’ techniques or unintentionally based on the characteristics of cameras and film technologies of decades long gone.

Such post-processing techniques may include cross-processing, adding old-fashioned frames or borders, adding light leaks and scratches, adding vignettes, decreasing colour saturation or shifting the tint of colours, and so on.

In the Nik Collection – specifically Nik Color Efex Pro – you can achieve all of the above and more – and I have used all of the above and more in this collection of retro-style photos from small town New Zealand.