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Boston night photographer Lance Keimig has announced four workshops in the next few months: two in Boston, one in California, and one in Texas.

First, the eight-week course on photography workshop will be held at the New England School of Photography beginning June 23. Second, there’s a night photography camp out on Lovell’s Island (in the Boston Harbor) on July 18. Third, if you want to shoot in California, there’s the Finding Your Way in the Dark: Digital Night Photography from Capture to Print at Mono Lake, Yosemite and Bodie Ghost Town on August 14-17. And if you’d rather shoot in Texas, there’s the Finding Your Way in the Dark: Digital Night Photography from Capture to Print at the Big Bend National Park and Terlingua Ghost Town from October 11-14.

(Arch at Mono Lake, by Lance Keimig)

Lance was one of my first night photography instructors when I took The Nocturnes workshop in San Francisco six years ago. I’ve also attended his Mono Lake workshop twice in the past four years. I won’t be able to attend the workshop this year, but I expect that everyone will have a great time. Lance was also featured in my short documentary film about night photography: The Night of the Living Photographers, which you can view on-line for free.

Night photographers are often concerned about digital noise when shooting long exposures. New cameras are able to exposure beyond ten minutes without producing unacceptable amounts of noise. Some high-end DSLR’s have been reported to be able to shoot over one hour. But noise is still there, and both in-camera and post-processing noise reduction techniques are always of interest in night photography.

And then there’s thermal noise. While most modern DSLR’s can control that magenta or blue amplifier glows, noise still increases in warm weather. It’s always there. The question is, “How much can you tolerate or control?”

If you can’t read enough about digital noise, check out Emil Martinec’s great article “Aspects of Noise Reduction in RAW Data“. This is some pretty technical stuff. But it makes great reading if you have the time to read through it slowly.

Bay Area night photographer Troy Paiva released his first book of night photography, Lost America: The Abandoned Roadside West, five years ago. Since then, Troy has continued photographing abandoned sites across California, Nevada and Arizona. He has also migrated his photo technique from film to digital, and continues to be active in the online night photography community (see his Flickrstream here).

(Photo by Troy Paiva)

Troy’s second book, Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, will be released in early June. It will be available from Amazon (you can pre-order it now). His first book is now sold-out. So if you’re at all interested in night photography, I recommend ordering your copy of Night Vision as soon as possible.

You can also see an interview with Troy in my 2004 documentary film about night photography: The Night of the Living Photographers(yes, you can watch it for free).

The noted photojournalist Cornell Capa died at his home in Manhattan yesterday at the age of 90. He had a long and influential career as a photojournalist. His older brother, Robert Capa, perhaps a bigger “name” in the history of photography, died in 1954 on assignment in Indochina. In 1974, Cornell founded the International Center of Photography (ICP) in Manhattan as a center devoted to promoting and advancing the field of photojournalism. His achievements as a photographer for Life magazine and his 30 years as a photojournalist can be summarized by a quote of his:

“I am not an artist, and I never intended to be one,” he wrote in the 1992 book Cornell Capa: Photographs.“I hope I have made some good photographs, but what I really hope is that I have done some good photo stories with memorable images that make a point, and, perhaps, even make a difference.”

For more information,read the NY Times article. The ICP has a short bio of Cornell Capa on their site.

As a photographer, I would be happy that one photograph of mine makes a difference to someone.

my new toy
Originally uploaded by mfophotos.

Last week, my friend Cynthia passed along this cheap “Time-Style” 35mm camera. I realized as I photographed it that is has a Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black or CMYK color scheme! Hard to see, but the lens cap reassuringly says “camera.’
I loaded the camera up with some really ancient Tri-X Pan — from the early 1970s, when it came in 20-exposure rolls. Talk about giving it handicap to start. However, I wanted some real crappiness. And I got it. I developed the film in Diafine, and here are few results from a lunch-hour at work and a few minutes around the house.

I am leaving this morning for a week in Berlin to see my show at Pool Gallery and attend the book launch and exhibition of Hijacked at Neunplus. After that I will be meeting my husband in Italy for a needed week away from all things photo. When I return to the states I go immediately to Syracuse for my month long Light Work residency and then to San Francisco for the opening of my solo show at the Robert Koch Gallery. Between Syracuse and San Francisco I will be in Chicago for the opening of Beyond the Backyard at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

It’s all very exciting, but the idea of being away from home for so long is freaking me out.

In 1997 Lynn Saville published her night photography in Aquainted with the Light. This summer, Lynn has a solo exhibition of night photography at the Montgomery Museum of Art (Montgomery, Alabama). The show is called NIGHT/SHIFT and is on view from April through August, 2008.

(Erie Lackanawan #18, by Lynn Saville)

From the Montgomery Museum’s website: “Lynn Saville, a native of North Carolina who now lives and works in New York City, has braved the mysterious darkness and captured oddly enchanted images for us to inspect and enjoy. Working with a large-format camera, she has produced both color and black and white prints that transport us vicariously into places where we might not feel safe to go in person, at night, alone.”

The reception for the artist is Thursday, July 10th 6 - 8 pm

How many times have you photographed something with one thing in mind, only to discover, much later, that what you shot — with the thought you had at that moment — is not the thought you have after seeing the print?

Such is this image. I shot these three soda glasses (OK, Coke glasses) at a local restaurant when a bunch of us Ann Arbor Area Crappy Camera Club members met for dinner after viewing the William Christenberry exhibit at the UMMA Offsite gallery. I was shooting Plus-X with my Pentax ME — not the best film for indoors, by any means. But, I took this shot because I thought the 3 glasses looked interesting. It wasn’t until I saw the negative scan that I thought those three glasses also represented different outlooks on life — you know the glass half-empty, etc. So that’s my title — Three Views of Life.

Last night was surreal. 400 people packed into a little piece of elegance in a warehouse in DUMBO. A cellist plucking maudlin stings as a series of presenters, photographs and winners flashed before the crowd. An then Martin Parr announcing the nominees for the Photography Book award. “And the winner is, Amy Stein.” Strange and wonderful things happening at the New York Photo Festival.

Ever since I first ventured into night photography nine years ago, Stu Jenks has been one of the biggest influences on me. To me, Stu’s work captures the spiritual world of night photography: ghosts of Native Americans dancing fire circles in the south-west American desert. That may not be what Stu is trying to capture, but that’s what it says to me.

A few days ago, Stu announced quite unambiguously on his blog, “I quit”.

(Owls Head, Arizona by Stu Jenks)

There’s no doubt that he’s really pissed off. He says he’s giving up trying to make a living selling fine art prints and selling the rights to his work (at least, I think that’s what he’s saying). He explains his disappointment with the art market and the photography profession, among other things. I told Stu that, in some ways, I agree with him. I understand how difficult it can be to make a living from photography these days. I’ve seen some very good professional photographers struggle to continue getting work. But I don’t want Stu to quit.

Take a few minutes to read his post. There’s a lot to it. He’s a gifted photographer, musician and writer. He doesn’t ramble. You should also read his follow-up post, “I’m Not Suicidal”