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The experience and expertise gained in a lifelong career in the photographic industry is now available in Ōrewa, with the opening of Coast Photo by Wayne Downie.
Wayne has been passionate about all things film and digital since he joined a photography club at school and got his first job in a professional photographer’s lab. He ran a successful photo store in Browns Bay for 35 years, but after moving to Red Beach three years ago, decided to move his business to Bakehouse Lane, and the new shop opened in February.
Working with daughter Claudine Conway-Cochrane and assistant Anastasia Zaikina, Wayne carries an extensive range of lenses, lens filters and batteries for any type of camera, accessories, bags and tripods, plus astronomical telescopes, binoculars and even a microscope.
Coast Photo can carry out all types of printing, from regular photos up to large-scale art prints on paper and canvas, as well as special processes that can print high quality images on metal or wood.
“The image is actually printed into the material, not onto it,” Wayne says. “It’s very high quality and totally resilient – they can even be hung outside.”
Coast can also provide top quality passport or ID photos, carry out high resolution movie transfers to digital format, and print and scan from original photos, slides and negatives.
One of the team’s specialities is restoring old or damaged photographs.
“Piecing together the details of a photograph in ruins is what we do best,” Claudine says. “No matter what’s wrong with a photo, we’ve usually seen it before. And we’ve fixed it.”
The team can also provide and develop every type of good old-fashioned negative film – a process that is enjoying something of a revival at the moment.
“We have traditional film cameras, both reusable and disposable. All the younger people love it because it’s so new to them – retro is in, and they find old cameras in cupboards and op shops,” Wayne says.
