"Night News" - an occasional missive from the darkness
Vol.1 No.2
_____________________________
"That does not prevent me from having a
terrible need of - shall I say the
word? - of religion. Then I go out at
night to paint the stars . . . "
-Vincent van Gogh
Arles
28 September 1888
_____________________________
"Photo District News" (http://www.pdn-pix.com/hotlist.html) named The
Nocturnes as their Webmasters Choice (with a short, playful review) for
the month of February and are providing a place for us in their archive
of Key Links for professinal photographers. TheNocturnes.com is happy to
reciprocate the link. (Thru a dark link, gladly . . .?)
During the past few years, hosting The Nocturnes Web site, a lot of work
from remote locations around the world has come to my attention, and as
an editor for Netscape's Mozilla.org Open Directory Project (see
http://directory.mozilla.org - CLICK! thru to Arts/Photography/Night
Photography), I come in contact with even more interesting Web sites
from around the globe, suggested by fellow editors and vistors. One
recent encounter - the "Night Moscow" web page by Alexander
Hodakov/Agency of Professional Photography - is worth a visit (either at
the Mozilla address above or thru The Nocturnes at
http://www.thenocturnes.com/owlinks.htm). beautiful color, and sharp,
sharp images render these scenes in Russia with a sense of vibrancy and
peaceful stillness both, somehow, at the same time. A welcome link.
More "Blue" moons! The first full moon of March (Full Crow Moon) is on
March 2nd and the second Blue Moon of the New Year (it's a blue, blue
moon) is on the 31st. The Spring series of Full Moon Night Photography
Workshops (see http://www.thenocturnes.com/workshop.htm for more info,
dates, pricing, etc.) at RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco starts with
the waning Blue Moon of March (dates are April 2, 3,and 10). There is
now an online form (http://www.thenocturnes.com/workform.htm) to print
and fill out for registration for the workshops. As he did last year,
Guest Lecturer Troy Paiva (http://www.designshed.com) no doubt will
continue to make appearances, with regularity - like the elusive full
moons he chases around exotic desert climes.
Starting with the 1st workshop of this series, we will offer
participants a space on The Nocturnes Web site to exhibit some of the
work they do in Workshops. This seems a great way to continue the
educational experience, as well as to "keep in touch." Workshop
attendees will be encouraged to post work (one of their best "shots," to
start) along with comments, anecdotes, statistics (such as exposure
info, etc), lessons learned, etc.; so that other (past/present/future)
Workshop participants can learn from the mutual experience. Because of
its experimental nature, much of the praxis of Night Photography entails
documenting and analyzing what you do, ideally over a period of time.
For what seemed ages, I know I had to "re-learn" certain techniques and
info each time I went out, due to a lack of documented experience (both
in general and from my own specific endeavors). That is where The
Nocturnes and these Workshops come in. As a resource center for night
photography AND photographers, we are considering "putting up" on the
Web, some kind of an online tutorial in Night Photography in the future,
partly in response to the numerous requests we get world-wide for
information about nocturnal techniques. Tho' I don't believe an online
experience can take the place of being out in the night air - the sense
of solitude, danger, beauty and timelessness - perhaps it can serve as
an adjunct (via email, limited access Web pages, the posting of JPG
images back and forth, etc.) to the real workshop or for
distance learning beyond the actual workshop, etc. What do you think? -
feedback from all reading this is extremely welcome.
Preliminary work on the new GALLERY section of the site is underway.
Basically, we are going to a single online gallery page (with thumbnail
images representing artists' work) that will direct visitors to various
"rooms" in the gallery, each with work by an individual artist. We will
soon have more interesting NEW work by NEW members of The Nocturnes.
Look for this around mid-April.
If you haven't visited the BACKLIST section already - please do so. It
is the start of an extensive list of texts, monographs, etc. dealing
with night photography. Another BACKLIST page that lists various general
works, novels, poetry, related scientific works, etc of nocturnal nature
is under development now. And a list of helpful magazine and newspaper
articles, as well as essays from other sources will soon be linked to
the Night Photography BACKLIST. If any of you have any ideas re: this or
can cite publication/issue/date/etc of related Night Photography
information - email that info (from any of the email-forms of the web
site or to basket@thenocturnes.com) OR snail mail a photo copy to:
Pacific Media Arts, Inc., PO Box 590161, San Francisco, CA 94159. I am
investigating the copyright issues involved, IF we can even post this
information to The Nocturnes "Resource Center." In the meantime, snail
mail your favorite nocturnal tidbits, words of wisdom, articles, etc. to
the address above.
Keep checking http://www.thenocturnes.com/entries for more information
about the online exhibition, "Studio Nocturne" as it is posted.
As always, this and past issues of "Night News" are accessible at
http://www.thenocturnes.com/nitenews.htm
It's been a cold, wet winter here, may we all be blessed with fruitful
nights, as Spring comes to our locales.
And just get out there.
Tim Baskerville
basket@thenocturnes.com
_____________________________
"So, you really should VISIT more often . . . "
http://www.thenocturnes.com