More songs of joy and peace

A perennial favorite this time of year, 'round Nocturnes Corner, the song "Christmas in the Trenches" by Folksinger John McCutcheon re-tells quite eloquently the story of the spontaneous 'Christmas Truce' of 1914.




Read more on the history of this extraordinary event here and here - and enjoy John McCutcheon's performance.

(All quiet on the Western Front . . .)

A Nocturne for Christmas Eve . . .

The Joni Mitchell composition "River" as performed by Sarah McLachlan.



(Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on)

Old Town Sacramento at Night

The following is from Viewpoint's Web site - NOTE: there are still slots available for this fun, new 'shop offering!

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Viewpoint Photographic Art Center announces the last of its Fall 2008 schedule of photography workshops - photographing Sacramento Old Town and Downtown at Night, with Tim Baskerville.

Offering a greatly expanded program with a wide diversity of subjects; ViewPoint is very pleased to welcome several nationally recognized instructors to our growing faculty. Additional information may be obtained on the Viewpoint website. These classes are sure to fill early so don’t delay. Go to Workshops at www.ViewpointGallery.org and use the pre-registration links to reserve your spot today! For additional information Contact Gene Kennedy, 916-441-2341, director@viewpointgallery.org

November 22 & 23
Old Town and Downtown Sacramento at Night
Instructor: Tim Baskerville
Saturday & Sunday, 7 to 11pm

Tim Baskerville has been photographing the night for over 25 years. Founder of The Nocturnes, he will lead us on an adventure of exploring both Old Town and downtown Sacramento the weekend before Thanksgiving. Emphasis will be on evaluating existing lighting situations and exposing accordingly. Films and digital capture will be discussed and compared. This is an intensive workshop, limited to 15 participants, closely supervised on location. Download a Registration Form here.

The Nocturnes return to Death Valley

Dream Date #3, Death Valley by Tim Baskerville

Death Valley, at more than 3 million acres, is the largest National Park in the contiguous United States. From Telescope Peak (11,049 foot) on the west to Dante's View on the east (5,475 foot and offering a vista of nearly all of Death Valley), the park features spectacular desert scenery, unusual wildlife, and is an area of great geological, historical, and cultural interest to many. Badwater is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere (282 feet below sea level). The average high temperature during the day in November is a very mild 76 degrees, followed by cooler nights at around 50 degrees!

This is the dramatic landscape we will find ourselves visiting this November 8-10, during the waxing Full "Frost" Moon - to photograph the nocturnal beauty of Death Valley! We will photograph around Furnace Creek Ranch, and such sites as the Ghost town of Rhyolite and Zabriskie Point under the light of the full moon.

Deadline to register with us is October 31st - more info can be found here - and you can register here.

(Read an unsolicited testimonial re: this 'shop on Joe Reifer's NPy Blog from a few weeks back)

Is there anybody out there . . . ? (still)


Calling all Nocturnes! Well, it's that time again! - For our 16th AlumNight (now a semi-annual) event, sponsored by The Nocturnes NPy Web site, at a "secure undisclosed location" in the SF Bay Area, on October 18th.

We have a number of announcements to make, much to talk about, and work (from you!) to see. All this, and a few more surprises - should be a another great AlumNight! So-o-o, if you're an Alum, be sure bring your latest work, promo pieces, 'leave behinds,' and just news of what's goin' on in your photo-life!

We are posting this notice here to catch a few of our "fair-weather Nocturnes," whose email addresses may have changed since our last event - in the hope they'll catch the news here!

If you're alumni, and for some reason have NOT rec'd email re: this event - please contact us (you know where to find us . . . ) re: the details for AlumNight. Or, if you know of an Alum who fits this category, give them a buzz, won't you?

(Joe, Mike, Jimmy - can you hear me . . .?)

The Nocturnes - OFF LIMITS - for a bit


Well now, we've really done it! The previously-mentioned and many-times-delayed migration to the new server takes place over the next 72 hours. During this period (Labor Day, indeed!) you might SEE a cached view of The Nocturnes Web site, or you might get NOTHING for your efforts. Emails to the site are also disabled temporarily (ah-h-h, peace and quiet!). This blog however, will be fully functioning and if you need to get/keep in touch, that is an option. Immediately after this period, service WILL continue to be interrupted – hopefully, just for a few more days, but expect delays in getting ALL the pages/depts back up and running.

Why migrate, you may ask? A few simple reasons: cost for additional bandwidth, efficiency, and brute storage. This is an important move, as it will enable us to expand the current Gallery space to include some new international artists who’ve expressed interest in participating in our little show’n’tell. BTW, if you would like to deepen your participation in The Nocturnes – that would be one path – to join the growing list of gallery artists. The annual fee is yet to be determined, but it should be modest, and helps us cover the increased bandwidth and the need for the move to the new server.

(This ain't off limits anymore . . . )

An American Prayer


Got an email today from Stu Jenks - with a link to this great new video by Dave Stewart. Even if you're not a fan of Obama (or Stewart for that matter), Stu guesses "you will be greatly moved by end of the song."

We couldn't agree more - nice to see Joannie B. in there, too!

http://myamericanprayer.com/

(Remember me . . .)

Need a few more Nocturnists . . .

Looking for a few more people to round out the 3-night Workshop I'm doing for RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco. Starts THIS THURSDAY, August 7 and continues on the 14th and 21st. You can call RayKo at 415.495.3773 for more information, and to register. SOMA locations include Yerba Buena Gardens (if we can get the permitting done in time!) and along the Embarcadero.

(Nocturnes Crossing - 100 feet)

Dark Weekend II

Another BIG weekend coming up for NPy and Local NPrs - a transbay extravaganza of nocturnal education/entertainment events coming up - see last weekend's offering (post is below), in case you missed it - those events are still in play, too! I'm beginning to feel every bit the Social Director for all the Nocturnists out there (yet another of our many free services . . .)!

First of all, Troy Paiva's release party for his new book - "Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration" - is being held at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco on Friday, August 1st.

(Cover of Troy Paiva's second book)

Just across the bay on the same evening, Joe Reifer will be holding court at the opening for the show: "Toy Camera Dreams" at Lucky Ju Ju's vintage pinball arcade, in Alameda.

(Oscar, by Joe Reifer)

Just so you know, Andy Frazer "scooped' us again on both of the above - on his NPy BLog - so, as to not waste your time here ("we know you have choices . . . ") you can read a full description, get addresses and times from this link.

Finally, again ON THE SAME NIGHT, John Vias will be at the opening reception for the "Glimpses of Time" exhibit at the Joyce Gordon Gallery from 5:30 - 8:30 pm. The show runs August 1-30, 2008, and the Gallery is located at 406 Fourteenth Street in Downtown Oakland, steps from the 12th Street BART station. Read more about this show and the award he was granted on John's site - click on NEWS

(Shiny Door by John Vias)

Let's see now, for those keeping score, in August we have:
Nocturnes . . . in Berkeley?
Night Sky spying witnessed - again, in Berkeley.
UrbEx photo documentation/fine art in San Francisco.
Another of John Vias's "Blue Nocturnes" in Oakland.
Joe Reifer, dream-states, and Pinball in Alameda.
And, Gotham's darkest hour, at theaters near you - that should keep you busy!

(From the desk of The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man)

Night School

Quite a weekend feast of nocturnal education/entertainment events coming up - one that's sure to, how shall we say it, ". . . put a smile on that face!"

First of all, as many who frequent the Photog-Blog-o-sphere surely know, the opening reception for the Nocturnes . . . in Berkeley? exhibit of NPy at The LightRoom, on Fifth Street in Berkeley, is this Saturday, July 19, from 2-6pm, with plenty of Nocturnes in attendance. So, why not venture out and see the faces behind the images?

Hearst Memorial Gymnasium, West Study by Tim Baskerville

The show features NightWork by some of the "usual suspects" - Tim Baskerville, Denise Fuson, Sherry Glassman, Mark Jaremko, Joe Reifer, Charity Vargas, and John Vias - all artists living, working, teaching, or photographing (or all of the above!) around Berkeley and nearby East Bay communities. It marks a shift in focus for The Nocturnes group (formerly San Francisco-based) to East Bay and North Bay locales.

The title of the exhibit, of course comes from that clever (and long running!) ad campaign from the late ‘60s by the Berkeley Farms Corporation. The tagline ran: “Farms in Berkeley?” to which one hears a cow respond - “Mooooo.” And, as incongruous as it might seem to find farms in present-day Berkeley (although the Ocean View district was once an agricultural area!), it should come as no surprise that The Nocturnes have found beauty, mystery, and transformation amid the darkened streets of Berkeley.

For directions, etc. and to read more about this fascinating and fun exhibit see the exhibit page on The Nocturnes site. And, you can preview some of the images in the show online.

While you're in town, why not visit the Berkeley Art Museum, across from the campus (where the Hearst Memorial Gymnasium image above was taken) to catch the exhibit, "The Other Night Sky" featuring photography by Trevor Paglen, in which he investigates, documents some alarming governmental facets of movement in the night sky, which we, as NPrs, might not ordinarily associate with the coming of nightfall.

See the BAM/PFA site for more info.

And, if that's not enuf nocturnal stimulus for you, "The Dark Knight," the new Batman movie, opens on Friday, July 18, and it looks to be a stunner, with a haunting performance by the late Heath Ledger as the Joker.

See the trailer here, or on the Warner Bros. site for the release of the movie.

Let's see now, mysterious night images of Berkeley (the campus and the city); clandestine spying by OUR Government, seen in the night sky; and Gotham's darkest hour - that should do it!

So when in Gotham (or Berkeley), ". . . let's be careful out there."

("Why so serious . . ." )