Two New Night Photography Books!

In the past few weeks, I've learned about not one, but two, new books relating to night photography. One is a how-to guide, and the second is an introspective look into one photographer's spiritual journey through the night.

First, Australian photographer Brent Pearson (who goes by Brentbat on Flickr) has self-published "Night Photography and Light Painting", which is available as an e-book from his website. The book features over 80 pages of Brent's light painting tricks and techniques, each illustrated with numerous photographs and easy-to-understand screenshots of his PhotoShop techniques. Although his tricks were used in Australia, I'm sure they'll work equally well in the Northern Hemisphere.

(Book cover by Brent Pearson)

Second, Arizona-based night photographer Stu Jenks has self-published "Flame Spirals: Journeys through Nocturnal Photography", which is described as part night photography, part memoir of his nocturnal adventures. If you've ever followed Stu's spiritual blog, you'll understand what that means.

(Book cover by Stu Jenks)

These books come on the heels of 2008's two big night photography releases: Jill Waterman's Night and Low-Light Photography (which included half a dozen of my night photographs) and Troy Paiva's Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration. If that's not enough to keep your personal library full, I expect there will be more comprehensive books on night photography within the next year.