"Night News" - an occasional missive from the darkness
Vol.7 No.2
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"An' don't it make you feel
Like kicking in a whitewall [tire]
Now, that you finally know
There ain't no wild horses out on Wild Horse Road.

"There ain't no wild horses out on Wild Horse Road
There ain't no wild horses there, I know.
Somewhere they're trucking mustangs on a lonesome desert road
But there ain't no wild horses out on Wild Horse Road."

- "Wild Horse Road"
by John Stewart, 1971
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Friends of The Nocturnes,

[A quick note here from Tim]
"Returning from the 'LA Nocturne' Workshop I was reflecting on my impressions of LA - equal parts 'LA Confidential' (modern-day noir) and 'LA Story' (the slightly surreal Steve Martin film), as I drove the long way homeward (Highways 1 and 101) this time to check out Pinnacles National Monument. South of the Monument, near King City (Monterey County) I spotted the sign: 'Wild Horse Road.' I was reminded of the above quoted lyrics, and the surreal juxtaposition of those lyrics, and that song (which I now heard clearly); that moment and all the moments just spent on LA's streets and freeways - it was one of those moments that is bound to stay with you for a while. A moment vivid with a sense of the importance of place, coupled with a deeper sense of something lost forever."

Bit of a lull 'round these parts - summer doldrums, really (or "June Gloom") - before things really pick up in August with the coming of the "high season" for Night Photography in Northern California. So, let's get started, shall we?

As always, you can read this edition of NightNews here, or online at http://www.thenocturnes.com/newsletter/newsarchive.htm where a more readable, printable version resides.

EXHIBITS NOTED
ArtSpan's prestigous "Selections" exhibit, held biennially, with work by The Nocturnes' own Adam Moore and Marc Babsin continues thru July 9, 2005 at LIMN Gallery & Showroom, 292 Townsend at 4th Street, in San Francisco.

Our most recent 'offline' show - "A Night on the Hill" - co-sponsored with Schnetzler Photography (www.schnetzler.com) was well received, and the opening well attended. It was installed at Farleys on Potrero Hill during the month of May. This show was especillay rewarding for us here at The Nocturnes as it truly was a community effort - over half the artists participating in the show, live/work on "the Hill!" Look for more shows like this in the future - coming soon to a neighborhood near you!

WORKSHOP NEWS
Our newest offering, the Bodie Ghost Town Workshop (September 20-22) with Dan Heller and Tim Baskerville is filling up fast! Based just outside Bodie State Historic Park, in Bridgeport, CA, this unique Workshop is being held during a 'dark sky' period, and should provide plenty of opportunities for those long, nocturnal time exposures and light painting we all love! In addition, we have arranged for extended hours on 2 days for daylight photo sessions in the historic interiors of some of the buildings at Bodie. Check out the Web site - www.thenocturnes.com/workshops/bodie.html - for full details and register online via our secure registration form at https://www.danheller.com/cgi/orderform.pl?action=bodie

As mentioned above, Tom Paiva and Tim Baskerville conducted the first-ever "LA Nocturne" Workshop over 4 nights recently in Los Angeles, with Helen K. Garber (www.helenkgarber.com), Guest Lecturer. Locations included the area around the new Disney Concert Hall, Santa Monica near the pier, Culver City Hall, and the Port of Long Beach (with lots of security!) Attendees were all from the Southland, with the exception of Alumna Extraordinaire/Frequent Flier Susanne Friedrich of San Francisco! Look for a repeat of the Workshop in 2006, amid the usual "June Gloom."

Look for other exciting offerings in unique locations in the upcoming "high season" in Northern California: our Return to Rush Ranch in August; the 4th Annual Angel Island Photo Camp (also in August); our annual San Francisco Workshop held during the area's Indian Summer in September, and a new 2-night Workshop in September at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Full details and registration forms for these Workshops and more, are at www.thenocturnes.com/workshops.html

CALL FOR ENTRIES
Two pre-announcements here: Submissions will soon be accepted for our newest Online exhibition of Night Photography: "Town and Country," in which we investigate the dual themes of urban and natural landscapes in Night Photography. What we would really like to see is for NPs to tackle both sides of the equation, maybe even in the same image, perhaps a diptych, with one urban and another rural image side-by-side, something like that . . . Deadline for entries will be September 15, 2005, and a Prospectus for the exhibit will soon be available at http://www.thenocturnes.com/forms/entryform_tc.html - so, put on your thinking caps for this one!

At this time, we would like to mention our latest idea for a local Bay area show, this one to be staged in the East Bay. A number of photographers (some of "the usual suspects") working and living in the East Bay had suggested a show specific to that area a while back, so, the title for this latest 'neighborhood' show is "Nocturnes . . . in Berkeley?" - which is, of course, a nod to another famous ad campaign - this one, the Berkeley Farms series of ads from a few years back. We are looking for artists to participate, of course, as well as venues - any ideas, East Bay NPs? Drop us an email with suggestions. Deadline for submissions, dates of exhibit TBA

BOOKS AND ARTICLES NOTED
We just received Bill Schwab's beautiful new monograph, "Gathering Calm" - comprised of 36 full size plates, with an introduction by Nancy Sojka of the Detroit Institute of Arts. It is a graceful, quiet study of what it means to really see, and includes mostly night and very low-light images. Done in locations as far afield as Iceland and Marin County - our favorites are still those serene studies of Belle Isle, the Rouge, and other locales around Michigan (and yes, "Snow Dog" is in there, too!). Last time we checked, in addition to the Trade Edition, there were still a few special limited editions, which include a sepia toned silver gelatin print, available thru his Web site - http://www.billschwab.com/webseries/bookoffer_gc.html - but, you'll need to hurry!

Dan Heller's (see Bodie Workshop mentioned above) book, "Profitable Photography in the Digital Age" has just been released. Published by Allworth Press, it is an exhaustive study of how the business of photography works in the information age. Dan has a second book, "How To Make Money with Digital Photography," coming out in September to be published by Lark/Sterling Press. Visit his Web site - www.danheller.com - for full details and previews of these two titles.

Four of Helen K. Garber's "LA Noir" images are included in the new book Looking at Los Angeles, published by Metropolis Books, with work by John Divola, Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, Stephen Shore, David Hockney, Julius Shulman and others. A review in a recent LA Times calendar section can be read at http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/knight/cl-ca-lookingatla12jun12,2,1408850.story)

Via, the bi-monthly magazine of AAA (May-June 2005) features an article on the "natural Wonders of Enchanting Highway 395" that includes mentions of such scenic spots as Bodie, Mono Lake, and the Bristlecone Pine Forest. With lots of information, links to Web sites included, it's a worthy read - especially if you plan to attend our Workshop up at Bodie in September. You can read the article online at http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/eastside_story05.asp

Ann Mitchell (recently seen with our LA Nocturne Workshop) has work featured in the May-June issue of ViewCamera magazine. "Falling somewhere between documentation and interpretation," the work is comprised of beautifully toned images of the abandoned Val Verde estate in Southern California. A recent article about the Estate's history and some of its legal problems appears at http://www.latimes.com/business/investing/la-hm-valverde2jun02,1,2418317.story?coll=la-headlines-business-invest

IN RELATED NEWS
With the last issue of NightNews, we thought we would reintroduce you, from time to time, to certain key aspects of the Web site's recent 'redevelopment project'! One feature, for certain, is the newly-expanded RESOURCES section - http://www.thenocturnes.com/resources.html - with new department including A "Desert Island Texts" list of favorite books, selected by members (". . . Can we please see your artistic license, mam?") of The Nocturnes. Our links page (O Winston Links!) now includes links to educational institutions and resources, dealing with photography in general, and night photography, in particular. There's even a Moon Exposure Calculator that Alum and math wizard Marcus Kazmierzcak has worked up to help you in your immediate forays into the darkness! The Nocturnes Web site - your bright spot in the darkness!

ALUMNI NEWS
Alum Ron Saunders is part of the exhibition entitled "Thirty Something: Three Decades of Innovative Work from the Kala Art Institute" held at the SFMOMA Artist Gallery at Fort Mason, June 29 - July 29, 2005. BTW, that link would be: http://www.sfmoma.org/museumstore/artists_exhibitions.html

Karen Schreiber's work was selected for the exhibit, "Culture and Agriculture" at New Visions Gallery in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Karen is participating again in "Studio Nocturne" - http://www.thenocturnes.com/exhibits/studionocturne05/index.html - at Fort Mason in October.

Todd Friedlander was included in the recent exhibit: "Buy Fine Art Before You're 60" (edit. note: better hurry!) at the newly re-launched RayKo Photo Center, 428 Third Street, in San Francisco - www.raykophotocenter.com . If you have not been to their beautiful new facility, you really should drop by sometime soon - support your local fine art venue! Todd is also part of "Studio Nocturne" this fall, October 15-16, 2005.

Web sites of some of the Alumni mentioned (or not) in this edition of Night News:
Todd Friedlander - http://www.toddfriedlander.com
Mark Babsin - http://www.marcbabsin.com
Karen Schreiber - http://www.kpsphoto.com
Mark Jaremko - http://www.mark jaremko.com
Susanne Friedrich - http://www.sanneart.com
Marcus Kazmierzcak - http://www.mkaz.com

MUSICAL NOTES
Recent Acquisitions:
Chavez Ravine, a record by Ry Cooder. 2005 Nonesuch Records #79877.
The Search for Robert Johnson, John Hammond, narrator. 1992 Sony Music, DVD #CVD49113

LIBRARY NOTES
Recent Acquisitions:

Gathering Calm by Bill Schwab (Gift from the Artist). Northlight Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9765193-1-3
More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts, by James Naremore University of California Press, 1998. ISBN 0520212940
University of California, Berkeley, by Harvey Helfand. Princeton Architectural Press, 2002. ISBN 1568982933 Point Reyes Visions Guidebook: Where To Go, What To Do, In Point Reyes National Seashore & Its Environs, by Kathleen Goodwin, Richard Blair. Color & Light Editions, 2004. ISBN 0967152720
Basic Forms of Industrial Buildings, by Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher. Schirmer/Mosel, 2005. ISBN 3829601735
San Francisco Noir, by Nathaniel Rich. The Little Bookroom, 2005. ISBN 1892145308
Digital Infrared Photography: Professional Techniques and Images, by Patrick Rice. Amherst Media, 2004. ISBN 1584281448
Fifty Houses: Images from the American Road, by William Least Heat-Moon (Foreword), Sandy Sorlien. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN: 0801870623
At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, by A. Roger Ekirch. W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. ISBN 0393050890
Guide to the Parks: GGNRA, by Ariel Rubissow Okamoto. Golden Gate National Parks Association; Revised edition, 1995. ISBN 0962520608
Mono Lake: Mirror of Imagination, by Dennis Flaherty, Mark A. Schlenz. Companion Press, Santa Barbara, 1997. ISBN: 0944197442
Chavez Ravine: 1949, by Don Normark. Chronicle Books, 1999. ISBN 0811825345
An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, by David Gebhard, Robert Winter. Gibbs Smith Publishers; Revised edition, 2003. ISBN 1586853082
Bucharest Nights, by Dennis Hopper. Perceval Press; Board Book edition, 2005. ISBN 0974707880
California's Eastern Sierra: A Visitor's Guide, by Sue Irwin. Cachuma Pr; Reissue edition, 1992. ISBN 0962850500
Summer 2005, Aperture #179. The Aperture Foundation, 2005. ISBN 1-931788-92-8
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This concludes this edition of "Night News." As always, this and past issues of "Night News" are accessible at http://www.thenocturnes.com/newsletter/newsarchive.htm

And finally, even tho' there are "no wild horses out on Wild Horse Road" just remember this: ". . . let's be careful out there."

Susan Nichols
nichols@thenocturnes.com
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The Nocturnes family of Web sites:
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http://www.meersfamily.org

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