Auto-Nocturne

"In my little town
I never meant nothin'
I was just my father's son . . ."
(Lyrics by Paul Simon)

What's up with The Nocturnes? - well we're on to the next big item on the menu - closing in on the final days for submissions to The Nocturnes' latest online Exhibit: Auto-Nocturne. Just thought we'd show you some fabulous work that Flickr'd into the Auto-Nocturne group (some of what's seen there has been submitted to the Exhibit). Anyway, we definitely think the work of Michael Paul Smith is worth a shout-out here. The craftsmanship (on a couple of different levels, which you'll soon see) and attention to detail is uncanny! His "VistaVision J & L Steel - night glow-1951" (above) reads like an O. Winston Link industrial tableau - without the steam! while "November Snow, Series 2" (below) recalls the tense quietude of a night painting by Edward Hopper.

Now, for the story behind the images - see MPS's description of the "Night-Shoot" of J&L Steel here (BE SURE to click thru!) - see what we mean about craftmanship? You know how some night photographs, with their inherent "un-peopled" stillness take on a stage-like quality, sometimes resembling nothing so much as a diorama - well, Smith has certainly turned that one around, hasn't he? We hope that Mr. Smith will consider submitting work into the Auto-Nocturne exhibit - we think it's just what the doctor (or mechanic) ordered!

From The [not so] Daily Nocturne