Galleries: Lance Keimig, Lisa Tyson Ennis and John Vias

Night photographers Lance Keimig (Boston, MA), Lisa Tyson Ennis (West Chester, PA) and John Vias (Berkeley, CA) are going to be participating in numerous venues in December.

Lance Keimig's show "Boston Views" will be at the Pepper Gallery (38 Newbury St, Boston, MA) from Nov 30th through the end of the year. The reception is this Friday, Nov 30th, from 6-8pm. Lance will also be participating in the Harvard Square Holiday Fair (3 Church St at Mass. Ave, Harvard Sq, MA) this weekend, December 1st (10am-7pm) and 2nd (12pm-6pm).

("Reflecting Skye", by Lance Keimig)

Lisa Tyson Ennis's show "Night Light" will open Thursday, Nov 29th (reception 600-730pm) at the Three Columns Gallery at Harvard University's Mather House (10 Copperwaite St, near Harvard Square). The show runs through January 9th.

("Moonlit Tent", by Lisa Tyson Ennis)

John Vias will open his gallery as part of the Berkeley Artisans Open Studios each weekend through December 16th. John's studio is between the University Ave and Gilman I-80/580 exits at 916 Jones St, Berkeley, CA 94710 (one block north of Cedar, cross street: 8th).

("Silos", by John Vias)

Nocturnes Descend on Mare Island

During the full moon last month, over thirty night photographers descended upon the decommissioned photo wonderland of Mare Island, in Vallejo, CA. The event was organized by Tim Baskerville of the Bay Area-based Nocturnes.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Mare Island is a fascinating place. In 1854 it became the first permanent US Naval installation on the west coast. Since being decommissioned in 1995, the land is slowly being migrated over to to residential housing and light industrial warehousing. But many of the Naval cranes, and all of the dry docks, still remain. For more information about visiting Mare Island, contact the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.

(Photo by Shawn Peterson)

To see a sample of 44 photographs taken by other night photographers during the October full moon, check out the Nocturnes071027 tag set on Flickr!

Mojave At Night

Bay Area night photographers Troy Paiva and Joe Reifer have returned, once again, from another productive night photography trip through the Mojave area of California.

("395" by Troy Paiva)

("Mojave #52" by Joe Reifer)

Keep watching this blog for a future interview with Joe where he discusses some of his techniques for shooting toward the moon (most night photographers begin by learning to shoot with the moon behind the camera), and strategies for improving productivity in the field.

Pigeon Point Anniversary: Nov 17, 5:00pm

If you live anywhere near the San Francisco Bay Area, you might be interested in the Pigeon Point Lighting Anniversary this Saturday night, Nov 17, from 6:00-8:00pm. This week is the 135th anniversary of the lighting of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. For two hours, the Coast Guard will turn off the modern airport beacon light, and then turn on the original fresnel lens light.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

I attended this event last year, and I have to admit I was really blown away by the beauty of the light from the fresnel lens. I never realized that the old fresnel lenses could not rotate as quickly as the beacons rotate today (it's obvious, once you think about it), so the fresnel lens would emit multiple beams of light, and the entire set of beams would rotate every few minutes. This creates an amazing star-light effect.

(Photo by Roland Ruel)

As an added bonus for photographers, for the first five minutes (6:00-6:05 PM) they hold the lens stationary to give you the opportunity to get your photographs without blurring the beams of light.

More information:

California State Parks, Pigeon Point Hostel, and the United States Coast Guard will commemorate the 135th Anniversary of the first lighting of Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This annual event features an open house in the historic fog signal building from 10am until 7pm. The highlight of the evening is from 6-8pm when the historic lighthouse?s Fresnel Lens lights up the sky. Exhibits in the 1899 Fog Signal Building will feature lighthouse history, videos, marine mammals, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park is located between San Francisco and Santa Cruz on Highway 1, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, or 25 miles north of Santa Cruz. For more information, please call (650) 879-2120 or click here.

Vitaly Shafirov

Vitaly Shafirov posted this wonderful night shot of Melrose Ave, Los Angeles on his Flickr site:

(Photo by Vitaly Shafirov)

His main website is here (warning: it uses Flash)

David Allee

I know many night photographers who seem to be obsessed with structures that may not be around much longer. They're always on the hunt for buildings that are scheduled to be removed. Sometimes a building may not be scheduled for removal, but all outward signs indicate that it won't be around much longer. Other times, we're totally surprised to learn that a building is now gone, and we wish we had photographed it when we had the chance. Sometimes, it may be last building that you ever would have expected to be gone.

(World Trade Center Roof, 1999, by David Allee)

David Allee is a night photographer based in New York City.