Random Notes

"And we speak of things that matter
In words that must be said.
Can analysis be worthwhile?
Is Photography really Dead?"
(with apologies to Paul Simon, "The Dangling Conversation")

News of the Digital Nocturne, the Language of NPy, and accidental notes:

- Quite a lively discussion recently on theonlinephotographer re: tone-mapping (isn't that something that Jack Casady is famous for {:<)} - again, with the musical references!) initiated by The Nocturnes printer, Rob Reiter of the LightRoom, Berkeley, CA.

- Another take on coaxing that extra little bit (or a lot) of detail - "Hidden in the shadows" - this from Brian Chapman's blog.

- Joe Reifer continues his translation of the language of NPy - on his blog.

- A couple of good books - re: b/w work and digital printing - also mentioned on TOP.

- There is a rather ominous post on, once again, TOP.

(from The Nocturnes NightNews feed)

Meet The Nocturnes / Meet the Press

It's been a banner couple of days for nocturnal reading, of late!

First, we received word that an interview with our own Tom Paiva is now available online at MAGNAchrom.com in their Night Photography Issue. You have to register, but it's free for a huge PDF of the entire issue.

Next word is, that the July/August issue of Architecture Boston is devoted to the "night" - with an article on "The Tradition and Technology of Night Photography" penned by our East Coast affilliate, Lance Keimig. Lots of PDFs here as well - Lance's piece is entitled "Shooting the Moon."

Finally, none other than the Victorville Press (CA) ran an article about Troy Paiva's desert excursions with a camera and cadre of illuminants.

Can you match the article to the image of author above?

Look for the promised follow-up to the "Long Moments" post below - in the next few days . . .

(from The Nocturnes NightNews feed)

Long Moments . . .


Continuing with the theme here - Musician/artist/composer/futurist Brian Eno -
- premieres his "77 million Paintings" for three nights only (June 29-30, July 1) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco's museum district. Sponsored by the Long Now Foundation, the self-generating ambient sounds and visuals ("Visual Music") Eno presents are part of a world tour that bears little resemblance to his rock'n'roll days with Roxy Music. Read the full SF Gate article here. Our favorite Eno quote from article: "I can't bear the rock music tradition," he says. "So much of stage work is connected with the presentation of personality. It's about, 'Oh there he is, that's him,' and I've never been interested."

Still more info about the project here, and at the official 77 site.

All of which got us to thinking (seriously!): about the "slow movement" (be it food, 'de-stressing,' reducing the frantic pace of life, in the creation of art, etc.) and Night Photography's relation to that idea. Call it the "long moment" (with a nod to Henri Cartier-Bresson's"decisive moment"), the compressed moment, "these small hours" (with some tasty Rob Thomas to follow soon), or these expansive moments (as in long, time exposures) - it's all related to photography (light) - over time. And, which is more important: the light, or the time?

More to follow . . .

(from The Nocturnes NightNews feed)

"Take a picture here . . . "

Photo by Graham Nash

"This land is the land of ours, this river runs red over it.
We are not your allies, we can not defend.
This is where they walked, this is where they swam.
Take a picture here, take a souvenir.
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone." (Cuyahoga lyrics by REM)

In a special issue of American Photo magazine (July/August 2007) Guest Editor Mark Seliger hightlights various musicans-turned-visual artist (and vice-versa). A natural course, we thought, here at The Nocturnes! Now on newstands everywhere.

Still Lost . . .

It's not like he needs the press, nevertheless certified Nocturne/Raconteur Troy Paiva has a one man night photography show simply called "Lost America" installed at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Some 33 pieces in the exhibit, it runs there thru July 15th. More info here.

"It was forty years ago today . . . "

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released 40 years ago today (in the U.K. - U.S. release two days later) coincided nicely with the "Summer of Love" here in San Francisco - "now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall."

Tho' not the first "concept" album (Frank Sinatra did "In the Wee Small Hours" - one of The Nocturnes faves - in 1955), Sgt. P. is considered one of the most influential albums of all time.

We're all Photographers on this bus . . .

There is an interesting lecture happening May 31, 6pm at the Main Library in San Francisco - part of an exhibit, Breakthrough: An Amateur Photography Revolution. that studies the cataclysmic changes in the praxis of photography in the digital age.

With a guest panel that includes Caterina Fake (!), Co- Founder, Flickr - it should prove to be an interesting night/discussion. Surely someone will bring up the whole Icelandic photographer Rebekka Guðleifsdóttira (Flickr name rebekka) episode with Flickr/Yahoo, et al. (backstory here and here) - and if not, they, should!

All the details re: show and lecture are at: http://www.photoalliance.org/index.php and http://www.sfacgallery.org/

(thanks to Halle Merrill)

Collective Memories


ACCI Gallery (Berkeley, CA) is showing some of my Mare Island night work (6 prints), as well as some b/w work (six prints, done in the daylight hours!) of San Francisco's Historic Streetcars, in "Collective Memories," part of their 50th Anniversary Celebration. The work is up thru June 2nd, with a big reception on May 19, 2007 from 6-10pm. Merchants in the "gourmet ghetto" of North Berkeley are participating in the ArtWalk festivities which mark the ACCI anniversary, as well as the 40th anniversary of the Berkeley Art Center, where we are also members.

Also, John Vias, one of The Nocturnes' "usual suspects" and East luminary is presenting a lecture on Night Photography at Elephant Pharmacy (just across the street from ACCI) on the 19th at 4pm. For a full calendar of events Click! Here - tickets are $5.

(from The Nocturnes NightNews feed)

Variations on a theme


Continuing with the theme (see below), I remember the late Steve Goodman's attempt to write a song that included all the necessary ingredients of the "perfect country western song" (back when it was called "Country and Western") - it was an added verse to a song he had already written - at the suggestion ("mention Mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin' drunk"), of David Allan Coe.

The lyrics go something like this:
"Well I was drunk the day my Momma got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
My Momma, she got run over by a damned old train."

Well, that got us thinking - can those requirements be updated a bit? The Dixie Chicks come to mind, but their Suite: Sweet Revenge anti-war anthem NRTMN(tho' an apt choice considering the current mood of the country, circa early May 2007), IS missing a few key elements as described above. No, we think the most likely candidate for that mantle is Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood (American Idol, she!) - including some of the time-honored elements present in Goodman's piece (trucks, drinkin'), other generally agreed upon themes like two-timing cheats, white trash, whiskey, pool, and "righteous revenge of the heart" (how 'bout that, Alanis?) and finally, a reference Goodman would be particularly interested in - mention of a "Louisville Slugger")

Introductory verses to the song:
"Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleached-blond tramp,
and she's probably getting frisky.
Right now he's probably buying her some fruity little drink
cause she can't shoot whiskey.
Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick,
showing her how to shoot a combo
and he don't know . . .

"I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4-wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats.
I took a louisville slugger to both head lights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires.
Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats."

Plus, it has fiddles! And, in the video, there are fireworks and a smashing up of a vehicle - as we head into the summer months, how American is that!

(What's a cowgirl to do . . . )

Desperados under the eaves . . .

"And if California slides into the ocean
Like the mystics and statistics say it will,
I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill.

"Don't the sun look angry through the trees.
Don't the trees look like crucified thieves.
Don't you feel like Desperados under the eaves.
Heaven help the one who leaves."

The New York Times just ran a review of the Warren Zevon biography by his estranged wife - "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" - describing it as a "no-holds-barred oral history that captures a lovable but wildly aberrant personality, draws upon a fascinatingly diverse cast of characters and peers into the heart of the Los Angeles singer-songwriter community in its prime."

A fascinating character, sort of a literary "musician's musican," whose work I first came upon in the early 70s (yikes!) when he was relatively unknown, with a song of his, "Tules Blues" ("It's a sad song that we always seem to be singing to each other . . .") which was being covered at the time in perfomance by folk singer Victoria - who used to play for free at the old Cannery in San Francisco, and who graced the cover of Richard Brautigan's "The Abortion: An Historical Romance (1966)" - Oh! god, another Hemingway-esque tragic artist/hero!

Is that enuf name-dropping for a single post? Anyway, the book sounds very interesting, as does the new "Preludes" release.

"I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
I was listening to the air conditioner hum
It went hmmmmmm . . . . . . . . .
Look away . . . . . . .
. . . Look away down Gower Avenue, Look away . . . "
(published by Warner-Tamerlane/Darkroom Music BMI, 1976)

(Hm-m, Desperados, Space Cowboy - we're sensing a trend here . . .)