Halloween Night 2012 Joshua Tree

I spent the night in Joshua Tree instead of doing the Halloween festivities. At some point I looked east and was curious why the horizon was glowing behold... the Moon. My host held my hand as we traversed the moon light landscape we had did twice by sun light. My Original intention of the trip was to shoot star trails yet instead I shot landscapes by moon-light. In between frames my host would daze off (I am sure trying to figure out why I could not do this during the day) to be awaken by me either getting the time right or wrong. -sound travels fast and far in the darkness of the desert-

.....the Right Time

                               

WALK HOLGA NIGHT

Often at night I will throw a roll of 120 into my Holga

and go out for a stroll. My objective is to visit places

that I pass during the day and captures its loneliness.

HOLGA: I Walk at Night

I am happy with the tonal range
I hid the hot lights behind the pillar
(highlights not blown out)
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

Lately I have been having this fascination with; Film, Holga, and Night Photography after reading Lance Keimig "Night Photography, Finding your way in the dark"

After spending much time dedicated to reading this book, other books and articles dedicated to night photography the time was now to execute and start producing B&W night/low-light images. Sure, I could easily produced these images with a digital camera yet that was the easy out and I needed as hard a challenge as possible to stimulate my need for photography self education.Often I am asked, Why Film at Night? I just prefer the technical side of photography/ learning process, wading out in the middle of the night alone with my camera, taking in the muted coloured tonal range and stillness of the space being photographed while my brain is spinning at a million thoughts/min and eventually the pure pleasure of producing a one of a kind piece of art (my vision) from beginning to end w/o computer intervention or people.

hellolights from street light across the street
nice details in shadow area/ highlights (far left) OK
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

 The technical stats for the Holga varied from website to website making my research very difficult. However, while taking on this challenge the biggest concern was determining the f-stop (reported sometimes as f8, f11 and other times as f13) with a shutter speed around 1/125 (for use in a future projects)  Being as lost as ever I decided that the best solution to my questions were to get out and experiment on my own and since I was shooting at night and with my preferred film (TMAX100) all I needed was a time that was specific to my Holga.

The first goal in this endeavor was to produce the perfect negative (lol), by 'bracketing' to establish my base exposure using one of the following category for Night Photography according to Lance Keimig.

• Bright street scene/lights in shot
• Average street scene/no lights in shot 
• Dark urban area
• Moonlight within 1 day of full moon

highlights ok/ shadows horrible
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

highlight blown out/ midtones OK
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

highlight blown out/ midtones on edge
TMax 100 D76 (1:1) 9.5min (Normal)

To Do List


Expose for the shadows with texture and/or details...based on the Zone System this is 'Zone III'

After determining what the highlights are based on the Zone, Develop for the highlights with texture and/or details, 'Zone VII'  If the highlights fall above or below this range you should develop your film (N-2, N-1, N, N+1, N+2) to return it to 'Zone VII'  

Work in Process


To assure to get the results I wanted, I bought all the required equipment and cleared out space in a closet to develop my film at home. After 3 rolls of film, I finally found a suitable base exposure for Avg street scene/no lights in shot. Bright street scene/lights in shot, needs work with my developing to bring the highlights down and prevent them from blowing out (I won't be able to hide all the street lights in my world)

Night Move

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (again) - DAY 0

After an after action review of the olde goals for 2010 they are 

tossed out and in with the "New Goals for 2011" These goals 

will stay on track with my five year plan, for life, art, friends, 

spirituality, family, love, liberty, and pursuit of more happiness.

DARK RAINY NIGHT OUT!

"Changing lanes..." DB8S © 2010
"click on image for a larger view"

Above are a few images that I captured while traveling from Houston to Dallas in an incredible storm.Yes, I love road trips with my friends, and this trip was with Jeff of Dallas. He and I drove from Ft. Lauderdale to the West Coast (twice) and I would do it again and again.

I enjoy "Low Light/Night Photography" and starting in January 2011 I will be doing more. 

The Light that you capture at night is incredible and unchallenged by the light of the sun!

It is best to use a tripod when shooting this style (with cable release or auto timer if you have), next best solution is to brace your camera against something or on a flat surface and if you must....... "Hooooooold Steady" and avoid as much movement as possible. Because the capture time may be seconds or more and it lends opportunity to introduce movement that may/will blur your images.

All of the photos from above were captured by placing the camera on the dash board and shooting on Manual f-stop/speed and Manual Focus. After a few miles and multiple tests to make sure that I have the exposure I wanted, it was just a matter of getting a nice smooth road and Jeff to drive straight.

Photo Notes:

"Changing lanes..." - bumpy road&changing lanes, I love how the lights reminds me of energy waves

"Road to Dallas #2" - I just loved the circus of colors coming at me in this image

"Road to Dallas #1 - nice smooth road, "straight line" on the right, the line of the left... not so.

"Road to Dallas #2" DB8S © 2010
"click on image for a larger view"

"Road to Dallas #1" DB8S © 2010
"click on image for a larger view"

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