Columbus' "[lights] like a small wax candle"

This night photograph is from National Geographic's Photo-of-the-Day. Along with all the great shapes of the dead trees in the foreground, I love the way the light sand is revealed under the moonlight.

(Bahama Islands, 1986, by James L. Stanfield for National Geographic)

From National Geographic's POD website:

"Crabbers hunt for their quarry by torchlight on the Bahamas' Samana Cay. Many historians think that the island's Lucayan Indians using the same hunting technique may have been the lights "like a small wax candle" that Christopher Columbus wrote about in his diary before his fleet found land here in October of 1492."

Henry Wessel

"Chances are, if you believe the light, you’re going to believe that the things photographed existed in the world." -Henry Wessel

(Los Angeles, No 43, by Henry Wessel)

Mike Johnston at The Online Photographer posted a link to a KQED segment on Bay Area photographer Henry Wessel. This site includes a wonderful short interview film with Henry. And this website contains more samples of his work, including some night photography titled Night Walk.

"New Light" - California Museum of Photography

The California Museum of Photography at UC Riverside will be presenting a show of night photography from the Joshua Tree National Park. The show, titled "New Light", will run from Aug 10 through Oct 20, 2007. The opening reception will be October 13, from 7:00-9:00pm. If you're in the Riverside, CA area, this should be worth checking out.

At this point, the CMP/UCR website has no information about the photographers included in this show. They also don't have any photos on-line, other than a 251x166 thumbnail. If I get any more information about this show, I'll post it here.

LUX

Berkeley photogapher Christina Seely's LUX project "documents the artificial glow produced by major cities in the three brightest regions as seen on a NASA map of the world at night." Her website includes photographs of the urban glow from the US, Europe and Japan.

(Metropolis 42,22 N 71,2 W by Christina Seely)

July Night Photography News

I've just returned from a week's vacation in Montana. This time I chose not to have any internet contact with the outside world, so this blog has been quiet for a while. When I returned, I immediately checked two of my favorite sources for night photography news: Tim Baskerville's Nocturnes Night Photography Blog, and Joe Reifer's Words. It looks like there's been quite a lot going on since I left for Montana:

First, Brian Chapman and Lance Keimig are teaching a night photography workshop at the Pacific Center Northwest in Seattle, WA, on August 24-27. I've known Lance since I took a Nocturne's night photography workshop from him in San Francisco five years ago. I shot with Brian last year at Mono Lake. I highly recommend both of them as instructors and all-around great people to shoot with. There's more information at the PCN website.

Second, and speaking of Lance Keimig, Lance has an article in the July/August issue of Architecture Boston titled "The Tradition and Technology of Night Photography". You may recall that the Boston Public Library recently purchased some of Lance's incredible night photographs for their permanent collection.

Third, the Victorville Daily Press ran an article about Troy Paiva's night photography throughout the desert.

If the summer sky is hampering your night shooting, as it often does here in the San Francisco Bay Area, then you can at least catch up on your night photography reading.

MagnaChrom - Night Photography

The latest issue of MAGNAchrom is dedicated to night photography. MAGNAcrhom is an online magazine dedicated to medium and large-format photography. Registration is free, and the issue is available by download.

(Photo by Tom Paiva)

MAGNAchrom includes interviews and work from a number of photographers. The night photography issue includes a lengthy interview with Tom Paiva. Tom was featured in my short documentary film Night of the Living Photographers, which is once again available for viewing on-line. Tom is also the author of the book Industrial Night.

Thanks to Richard Sintchak for telling me about this one.

Time Lapse Night Photography

Dan Heller has produced a great little time lapse film composed of night photographs taken with a Canon 1Ds Mark II. Most of you might be familiar with Dan Heller's insightful blog on the photography business, which is important reading for anyone interesting in selling their work.

(Evening Traffic 6, by Dan Heller)