Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Nightvisions, eines meiner Hauptthemen

I think that German Photographer Peter Leyendecker was/is somehow linked to the photographer in the previous post - Darius Klabisch - certainly they are kindred spirits.

Definitely worth a visit (to their Web sites, not Germany! - Oh-h, I dunno, after looking at these images, maybe Germany . . . )

Both gentlemen will be added to The Nocturnes O. Winston Links page, soon enuf!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Acid Nocturne

Speaking of the
Bechers (Bernd and Hilla) - see previous post, below, I recently happened onto a photographer, Darius Klabisch, whose work resembles mostly what the Bechers work would look like, if done on acid!

See for yourself: (click to enlarge)


New Topographics, revisited

The work of photographer Henry Wessel is currently featured at SF MOMA - "Henry Wessel: Photographs" - thru April 22. No stranger to Night Photography (Google his book "NightWalk" for more info), he is more noted for his work in the West, along the lines of the New Topographics "style," if you want to call it that.

Oklahoma, 1975 by Henry Wessel

In conjunction with the show, there is a program entitled "Art and Conversation: Henry Wessel and the Social Landscape" with Terri Whitlock, curatorial associate, photography, SFMOMA. March 30, 2007, from Noon - 1:00 p.m. Koret Visitor Education. From the MOMA site: "Whitlock discusses the social subtext of Wessel's pictures. In particular, she considers his photographs within the discourse of New Topographics, an important exhibition organized by the George Eastman House in 1975 that included examples of his work. The program concludes with a visit to the exhibition galleries. Free with Museum admission."

At this time, we would like to direct you over to Joe Reifer's blog, where he is in the midst of an ongoing investigation of the New Topographics exhibition of 1975. In his journey, he has covered work by Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, Jeff Brouws, the Bechers, and others. Definitely worth a 'look-see!'

Maybe another "Nocturnes Field Trip" - to see the show - is in order, eh?

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Flash[light] Mob descends on Bay area - Part Three


Image Copyright Roberto Renzetti

The third portion of the progam for this year's Early March of The Nocturnes AlumNight/Etc. festivities involved a late night 'shoot' Sunday night, over at China Camp - never an easy task, as it turns out! Despite assurances by all the uniformed entities, we STILL had problems with staying in the park after dark to photograph (never confuse getting permission with getting a PERMIT!). It all worked out tho,' and a great time was had by all (see above image). But I would say this: "Don't try this yourselves, kids!"

So that is what we'll do for next time - "get it in writing" - we have the Liability Insurance, so that's covered, and we've done this before - our Angel Island Photo Camp, Yerbe Buena Gardens, the Joshua Tree 'Shop in the fall, etc - so we're not alien to the process. Just thought we could bypass some of this 'red tape,' somehow. Alas, that seems a pre-911 dream . . . (the BLM is even getting into the Act - for our upcoming Death Valley Workshop!)

So if there was ever any doubt as to where all your hard-earned Nocturnal entertainment dollars are going - there's your answer . . .

End of "China Camp Massacree" rant.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Flash[light] Mob descends on Bay area - Part Two


Image Copyright Dan Mitchell - www.gdanmitchell.com

This past Saturday (Full Crow Moon) nearly 40 intrepid Nocturnes took to the streets of Mare Island to photograph 100-150 year-old brick buildings, massive ship-building equipment, historic mansions, etc. - all part of our annual AlumNight event.

We will be posting work from the group on Flickr in the next few days - check back here to learn the top-secret tag!

With that green glow in the windows, what do you suppose they did in that building?

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Flash[light] Mob descends on Bay area - Part One

Image Copyright Roberto Renzetti

As the East and North Bay reeled from recent earth rumblings (yeah, we felt the recent rolling Earthquake out here on Mare Island) and memories of the Zodiac re-lived (the movie stirs a lot of memories in the Vallejo/Napa area), a mob of Night Photographers fell upon the San Francisco Bay area for three nights, the first weekend of March, under the Full "Crow" Moon.

This image was part of a group shot with Tim Baskerville's
College of Marin NPy course - lots of painting with flashlights at Battery Mendell in the Marin Headlands! Looks like the Zodiac was up there, lighting this scene . . .