Sunday, August 30, 2009

David Shalliol

Chicago-based photographer David Shalliol's has done an interesting project called Isolated Buildings. It includes some great night photographs of buildings that are standing with no immediate neighbors. It's a great study of neighborhood transformation. The project statement (on the right side of the linked page above) includes some interesting thoughts that are relevant to urban exploration.

(Photo by David Shalliol)

There are seven other night photographs throughout the project page. But take time to look through all of the photographs. The daytime photographs are equally compelling.

There's also some night photography in his Five versus Five project, which includes some great work of basketball hoops in decaying neighborhoods.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Thomas Kneubühler

Thomas Kneubuhler is a Swiss-born photographer working in Montreal. For his project Electric Mountains he used a Sinar 4"x5" to photograph ski resorts that are lit up at night for night skiing.

(Photo by Thomas Kneubuhler)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

David Black

David Black has been a professional sports photographer for almost thirty years. After photographing numerous Olympics and other major pro sports events, he recently moved from sports photography into light painting. On his interview with TheNightWriterz he describes it as the perfect merger between photography, graphic design and oil painting. You can see examples of his lighting painting (he calls it "LightPainting"... one word, all caps) here.

Make sure you listen to David's podcast interview with TheNightWriterz.

(Summer's End, by David Black)

Also, check out David's book Workshop at the Ranch, which is a training manual for his workshops.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Haircuts by Flashlight

Seen in Lens, the NYTimes photography blog:

(Photo by David Goldman/Associated Press)

"Sgt Joshua Engbrecht, 28, of Riverside, CA, left, and Pfc. Jack Shortridge, 21, of Long Beach, CA, ... give each other haircuts under the stars in the Wardak Province in Afghanistan"

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Mike Hows

Bay Area night photographer Mike Hows has recently make a huge number of trips to the desert to photograph abandoned towns and many automobile wrecking yards from California, Nevada and Arizona. I've been shooting regularly with Mike for the past two years. Along with impressive ability to negotiate with private landowners (some of them armed), his dedication to shooting and improving his craft has never ceased to be inspiring. Some of his most recent work is available online from July and August.

(Photo by Mike Hows)

Some of Mike's work will be on display along with Troy Paiva and Joe Reifer at the Lucky Ju Ju gallery in Alameda, CA in September. The reception is Friday, September 4th.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Podcasts: Joe Reifer and Troy Paiva

Joe Reifer just informed me that he was featured in an interview podcast with Night Writerz: a new podcast service focused on night photography. Each podcast is thirty minutes long. After the first five minutes of news updates, the remaining time is focused on the interviews. This time slot seems to be just right to let the interviewees discuss their motivation and thoughts about how they developed their technique, and why they chose their particular working style.


Follow the link above to access the series of podcasts from iTunes. If you're still digging for more after listening to Joe's interview, you can listen to an earlier episode with Troy Paiva. You can also watch a video interview I did with Troy Paiva five years in Night of the Living Photographers.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a combination beachfront amusement park and convention center located in Santa Cruz, CA. Built in 1915, it is California's oldest amusement park, and one of only two seaside amusement parks on the West Coast. It's not unusual to have sunny days and overcast nights during the summer. Fortunately for photographers, the light from the amusement park provides plenty of diffused light for photography along the beach.

The last Friday night of July was no exception. Mild weather and an outdoor rock concert in the background makes for a casual night of shooting.

(Lifeguard Stand, by Andy Frazer)

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Mark Brautigam

Wisconsin photographer Mark Brautigam took this great night shot in Aurora, WI. It's part of his "Wisconsin" series. I love the cold, desolate background behind the house. You can almost feel the cold of the snow.

("Aurora, WI" by Mark Brautigam)