Blue Nocturne



Image by Richard Skidmore ©2008-09

“The world is blue at its edges and in its depths. This blue is the light that got lost. Light at the blue end of the spectrum does not travel the whole distance from the sun to us. It disperses among the molecules of the air, it scatters in water. Water is colorless, shallow water appears to be the color of whatever lies underneath it, but deep water is full of this scattered light, the purer the water the deeper the blue. The sky is blue for the same reason, but the blue at the horizon, the blue of land that seems to be dissolving into the sky, is a deeper, dreamier, melancholy blue, the blue at the farthest reaches of the places where you see for miles, the blue of distance. This light does not touch us, does not travel the whole distance, the light that gets lost, gives us the beauty of the world, so much of which is in the color blue.

". . . The color of that distance is the color of an emotion, the color of solitude and of desire, the color of there seen from here, the color of where you are not. And the color of where you can never go.”

Rebecca Solnit
The Blue of Distance
From "A Field Guide to Getting Lost" (2005)

NOTE: The Deadline for submissions to this, our 20th online exhibit of thought-provoking NPy has been EXTENDED - to February 28, 2009! Tell all your Nocturnal friends . . .
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Blue Nocturne


The Nocturnes.com invites all interested artists to enter our latest online Night Photography Exhibition, Blue Nocturne. This competition is open to all Night Photographers (NPrs), all photo media - and film cameras are OK, too! We ask only that your final outcome would normally be a fine photographic print - b/w, color, alternative, fuzzy focus, whatever - presenting mysterious, riveting nocturnal imagery.

Stuck on the idea of what constitutes a "blue nocturne?" It's the visual equivalent of the "high lonesome," the rhythms of the Delta, the Crossroads, and the Ghost of Robert Johnson (again, with the music references!), as well as the "tungsten-blue" palette of some of the best in NPy. It's work that exists in a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440-490 nm, and is "Kind of Blue," too! It's the cold, steely hue of a noir crime scene, and shooting "night for day." It's the near-frozen atmosphere that gives us Northern Lights in those extreme northern latitudes of the planet. It's homage to the color of the oceans of that same watery planet; and the color field and the abstraction of neon on rain-dampened streets. It's what you think a Blue Nocturne . . . is.

You might have a look at the online exhibit area of The Nocturnes Web site, specifically the immediate predecessor to this exhibit, The Nocturnes 2008 - http://www.thenocturnes.com/exhibits/2008.html - or one of our other, more theme-driven offerings, like Town and Country - http://www.thenocturnes.com/exhibits/tc.html - OR - The Nocturnes: Not ready to Make Nice - http://www.thenocturnes.com/exhibits/nrtmn.html for an idea of what we might be looking for. Also have a look at some of the Gallery pages of The Nocturnes Web site, especially http://www.thenocturnes.com/gallery/pankov.html (Philip Pankov's page), Troy Paiva's rather colorful page: http://www.thenocturnes.com/gallery/troyp.html, or http://www.thenocturnes.com/gallery/jenks.html (Stu Jenks' page) for inspiration.

You might also consider this quotation from a "A Field Guide to Getting Lost" (2005) by Rebecca Solnit - The Blue of Distance. (Thanks to Nocturnist Richard Skidmore for alerting us to this!)

And, some musical connection(s):
"Blue Hotel" by Chris Isaak
"Blue Bayou" by Ray Orbison
"Bellbottom Blues" by Derek and the Dominoes
"Blue on Blue" by Bobby Vinton
"Blue" by Joni Mitchell
"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" as done by Elvis, Roy Acuff, Willie Nelson, et. al.
"Love is Blue" Instrumental by Paul Mauriat

With all this in mind, let's see what we can come up with for Blue Nocturne, shall we? Again, much like our California Nocturne and New York Nocturne shows, maybe your images don't need to be about a specifc location, described area or idea or even color- perhaps it can refer subliminally to the idea of Blue Nocturne - something to think about, no?

Entry Fee and Deadline
There is no limit to the number of pieces submitted per artist. Entry Fee: $25 for up to 3 entries; each additional entry is $5. Postmarked dates for entries are NOT acceptable for this competition - we will need to RECEIVE your 'hard copy' of entry form and fee by February 28, 2009! Please NOTE: Entries from outside the U.S. should be sent well in advance of the February 28, 2009 deadline, as international mail deliveries are often delayed up to a week or two.

Exhibition Dates:
Exhibition runs from March 15 through May 30, 2009. Accepted work will then reside in a developing archive of nocturnal imagery on The Nocturnes Web site after the exhibition closes - available to NPrs and those interested in Night Photography (NPy), worldwide.

What to send:
Send jpeg files at 72 dpi named appropriately for the Web: 8 letters-dot-3 letter extension (e.g.- niteshot.jpg) all lowercase letters. The size should be no greater than 600 pixels in any one dimension. Square medium format film images are optimal at 600x600 pixels; and scanned 35mm film images should be approximately 400x600 pixels.

If you send images via snail mail, use lots of protective cardboard for shipping disk - we accept CDs of your images ONLY via USPS. An even better alternative is to send us the URL of images that are already on a web page (a Flickr account would work), and we can 'retrieve' those images; then you can easily FAX (or snail-mail) in your entryform with payment information. As you might have gathered, we are trying to avoid a flood of emails and haphazard, ineffective attachments being sent to the site.

Awards:
Two (2) Awards will be awarded at the discretion of the Awards Juror, none other than Fezziwig Blogger, Stu Jenks (a returning Juror, whose work can be found at www.stujenks.com) - a Best of Show and an Honorable Mention; and the amount of prize money awarded is dependent on the number of entries received and selected for exhition. The final jurying will be done from a preliminary selection of works by members of The Nocturnes.

Sales:
Sales will be encouraged - No Commission taken for any of our online exhibits - and direct links to artist sites or emails will be provided. Artwork remains Copyright of the participating artists. Pages on the Web site are Copyright, The Nocturnes, and Pacific Media Arts. The exhibit, Blue Nocturne is Copyright Pacific Media Arts and The Nocturnes Web site.


Please print all pages of this form, fill them out (keeping a copy for your records)
and mail with appropriate fee (to be RECEIVED by February 28, 2009) to:


Blue Nocturne - an Exhibit
TheNocturnes.com / Pacific Media Arts
PO Box 29074
Presidio of San Francisco, CA 94129
707-644-4073 fax


ENTRY FORM: Blue Nocturne
(print, fill out and forward with entry fee to Pacific Media Arts)

Name:
_________________________________________________________________
Company:
_________________________________________________________________
Address:
_________________________________________________________________
City/State/Country/Postal Code:
_________________________________________________________________
Phone:
_________________________________________________________________
Fax:
_________________________________________________________________
email:
_________________________________________________________________
URL: (where artwork is to be found)
_________________________________________________________________

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File #1 - Filename: (e.g.- niteshot.jpg)
_________________________________________________________________
File #1 - Title of artwork/Year created: (e.g.- "Desert Nocturne #2")
_________________________________________________________________
File #1 - Photo Medium/Print Dimensions/Price:
_________________________________________________________________


File #2 - Filename:
_________________________________________________________________
File #2 - Title of artwork:
_________________________________________________________________
File #2 - Photo Medium/Print Dimensions/Price:
_________________________________________________________________


File #3 - Filename:
_________________________________________________________________
File #3 - Title of artwork:
_________________________________________________________________
File #3 - Photo Medium/Print Dimensions/Price:
_________________________________________________________________


File #4 - Filename:
_________________________________________________________________
File #4 - Title of artwork:
_________________________________________________________________
File #4 - Photo Medium/Print Dimensions/Price:
_________________________________________________________________


File #5 - Filename:
_________________________________________________________________
File #5 - Title of artwork:
_________________________________________________________________
File #5 - Photo Medium/Print Dimensions/Price:
_________________________________________________________________

Include nonrefundable Entry Fee: $25 (US Dollars) for up to 3 entries; additional entries are $5 each

Check#: ______ Payable to Pacific Media Arts

Credit Card: Visa _____ Mastercard _____ Amount: ________________

Credit Card Number: ________________________________________

Expiration: _____ / _____ Name on Card: _______________________

Zip Code corresponding to Credit Card: _________________________

Authorized Signature: _______________________________________

Note that "Pacific Media Arts" will appear as the payee on your Credit Card statement.

Number of disks ______ enclosed. Disks will NOT be returned.

Photographic Experience / Interest in Night Photography:

_________________________________________________________________

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How did you learn about this online exhibition? Previous show?
Specify by name if Craigslist.org, Artist Resource Web site, Artweek or other publication,
The Nocturnes Web site, other NPy Web site, a poster in retail outlet, or other.
When did you first discover The Nocturnes?

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Would you be interested if this (or another) show were presented in a more traditional
"bricks and white walls' venue (probably in the San Francisco Bay area).
Any suggestions?

_________________________________________________________________

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Receipt of this completed, signed entry form or any materials, files, etc.
constitutes your agreement with the conditions set forth in this prospectus.

 

SIGNATURE _________________________________ DATE _________________