night Archives - Page 4 of 9 - Just Enough Focus

August 13, 2018August 13, 2018

Time Travel

To be honest, I don’t remember taking this photo. No matter how many images I make, I usually remember each one. Pictures to me are memory boosters, I only have to look, and I’m transported back in time: I’ll have a recollection, however vague, of that moment. But for whatever reason, this one escapes me.

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Time Travel — A picture I took down a random street in Barcelona’s gothic quarter

I was shooting with a wide open aperture and high ISO so that I could snap photos as I saw them. I was a little like a snap-happy tourist. I’ll call it street photography but, I was having fun, so maybe a bit of each.

see the European gallery

Barcelona is one of those places where the architecture steals the show. The architecture is old, and it belies the fantastic amount of history in these walls. To me the street lamps have an 18th century feel to them, and perhaps some of them are that old. When they finally invent the time machine, I’ll be coming back here to take a few more photos to see if it looks the same. Hopefully, I won’t change history while I’m at it.

July 17, 2018

Manhattan Vignettes

Here is a series of shots I took last year when in NYC. I walked to Times Square late at night in the pouring rain. While that may not sound fun, it’s an excellent time to do street photography. The combination of lights, reflections, and umbrellas create scenes that are fun to watch, in a people-watching kind of way.

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Manhattan Vignettes 1 — Crossing the street in a downpour

Manhattan Vignettes 2 — Kissing in the rain

Manhattan Vignettes 3 — Not enough umbrellas

Manhattan Vignettes 5 — A lot going on in this scene

Manhattan Vignettes 6 — I wish you called a cab

Manhattan Vignettes 7 — Where is our Uber?

Because of the rain and the late hour, there were far fewer people out than usual. If you’ve ever been to Times Square then you know that’s rare. It meant I was able to capture little vignettes without too many distractions. Each of these photos tells a different story from that evening. It is up to you the viewer to imagine what that story is.

street photography gallery

As the name of the series suggests, I’ve employed a vignette technique to each of these images to draw attention to the people. The setting, while electric, is only that, a setting. Each story is as different as the people that inhabit them.

June 18, 2018

So Many Stories

I’ve heard it said that eventually, everyone passes through Times Square. There’s no way to describe it unless you’ve been there; it’s electric.

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So Many Stories — The stories we tell with pictures are a form of virtual reality

Last week I was talking about telling stories with simple images at the beach, but this is an example of a subject that’s the polar opposite of serenity and sunsets. Regardless of the scene, success comes about by framing an image in a way that allows the viewer to enter it and muse about what is going on.

more urban exploration in the gallery

If you want to tell stories with your photos, it doesn’t matter what the scene is. It could be a beach, a farm, a city or anything in-between. I find that having a sense of depth draws us into the scene. We start at items close up and then wander around establishing distance and placement. It happens so fast we don’t notice, but crafting scenes are what makes photography so enjoyable. It’s a subtle version of virtual reality based on immersion. If we are, even for an instant, immersed in a photo, then we’ve experienced a form of virtual reality. Stories when told by a picture or a book, have always been a way to experience a different reality.

June 13, 2018June 13, 2018

Hot Summer Nights

Last year I was in New York City on the hottest three days of the year. It was unbelievably hot and the only thing to do at night was to walk around Times Square in the pouring rain.

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Hot Summer Nights — A hot and steamy night in the rain at Times Square

I should be used to the heat from Florida, but it was no easier. Nevertheless, the rain and lights created fantastic photo opportunities that are entirely different than those I get back home. A nice effect is how the rainwater creates a reflective sheen on the pavement.

more street photography from the gallery

Taking photos at night in a city is a matter of experimentation. With a camera, we have several choices to make. A wide aperture combined with a high ISO allows a type of street photography without a tripod. However, with a tripod, we can take longer exposures if we want to capture light trails. In this case, I just wanted to capture images of the scene without special effects. For me, the most exciting thing was watching people out having fun in the rain; which by the way, was what I was doing also.

June 7, 2018

Barcelona Night Scene

Here is a shot I took last year on my last night in Barcelona. I was “stuck” there while a Hurricane passed through my home in Florida. It’s not something I’d wish on anyone, but as long as we were stranded, I could think of no better place to be. Barcelona has a unique energy to it, and it’s super easy to pass the time.

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Barcelona Night Scene — A street corner in the gothic section of Barcelona at around midnight

In a city like this, people are out walking and socializing late into the night. It’s fun to be in the middle of it all while taking photos. For whatever reason, nighttime street photography is something that gets my creative juices flowing. There is something about the lighting that changes the mood completely.

more night photography from the gallery

For this scene, I selected a particularly gritty looking corner. The idea is to use the light and leading line to draw the eyes across the image from left to right and into the busy intersection. This type of lighting reminds me of scenes from movies; it gives me an appreciation for good cinematography. In another life, I think I might spend my time here making film noir type movies.

May 30, 2018

View From Cambie Street Bridge

The geodesic dome on the right is the Telus World of Science. I took this photo while standing on the Cambie Street Bridge in Vancouver. I’ve made different shots over the years, here is one from roughly the same angle and here is another.

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View From Cambie Street Bridge — A view of the Telus Science World at the end of False Creek in Vancouver

To Vancouverites, this is a typical scene; in fact, the sight is just part of the scenery. That’s true of anything we see day-in-day-out. But when I come back after being away, walking across the bridge at night is one of my favorite past times.

In fact, you can walk all over Vancouver; you don’t need a car. I rarely rent one when I’m here unless I’m traveling outside the city. Mostly I take the Skytrain which you can see in this picture.

Dancing Dining Cocktails

A while back I met a friend for dinner here at Citywalk in Orlando. It was on a Monday and one of the slowest days of the year. The ordinarily crowded scene was utterly empty. It’s not often you get that here.

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Dancing Dining Cocktails — Citywalk in Orlando’s Universal Studios theme park

I didn’t go to take pictures, but I brought my camera anyway. I captured this as I was heading back to the car. It was a one picture trip.

more night photos from the gallery

I’m attracted to the neon signs because it reminds of the work of Thomas Hawk, he has an extensive collection of neon signs on Flickr. However, this being Universal Studios it is a little more contrived. Tom’s work is authentic Americana along the highways and thoroughfares of the country. In any case, if it wasn’t for his work, I might not have thought to take this. The influence I get from photographers like Thomas Hawk is essential to me.

March 28, 2018

Stars Above Terra Ceia

This is a minimalist view of Terra Ceia Bay which is a short distance from my home in Palmetto. There was no breeze, so the water was like glass. I made several stops and each picture I took featured reflections in the water.

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Stars Above Terra Ceia — The view of Terra Ceia Bay on a calm morning

Yesterday I mentioned the topic of light pollution and if you’re interested I found a link to an online map. This shows the levels of artificial light on the ground at places all over the earth. Even though this image of Terra Ceia was taken about an hour before dawn, the band of light on the horizon is the tell-tale sign of a city. Sadly, it seems there are not many dark skies on the eastern half of the North American continent, at least not where I live in the United States.

more night photos
Nonetheless, we still have stars and every evening when I walk my dog I look up at them. I think that in decades to come space travel will become common, and we’ll have the luxury of seeing the stars unobstructed by atmosphere. Until that time, at least now I have a map to find the darkest skies.

March 23, 2018

Main Attraction

This was the main attraction on the midway at the Sarasota Balloon Festival last week. I took this on the first night before the crowds arrived.

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Sometimes I use this technique to show a scene in relation to the space it occupies. In this case, I’ve included a larger than normal portion of the dramatic sky. To get that I used a 12mm lens which makes the Ferris wheel appear small and the clouds to converge.

Another technique would be to use a drone to get an aerial perspective. However, it was a hot air balloon festival and I just assumed there would be a drone ban, that was not the case, so I’ll know for next time.

more photos that feature clouds

It’s kind of ironic in that Ferris wheels, hot air balloons and drones are all just different ways of getting above the ground, so you can look back down.

March 15, 2018

More Hot Air

Here is another balloon from the festival last week. If nothing else, it whets my appetite for doing more of these. This kind of image checks a lot of boxes for me: it’s at night, colorful and simple.

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More Hot Air — From the Sarasota Balloon Festival

It’s an example of how I try to simplify a subject to give it a stronger voice. At an event like this, there are a lot of people walking around, other balloons and basically, a bunch of commotion. But I walked around this one balloon looking for an angle that would minimize the distractions. I also used Photoshop to blackout a bus and truck. So, the combination of composition and post-processing allowed me to create a simpler scene that focuses on just the main subject.

more daily images

I gravitate towards simplicity in photography. I suppose it’s a form of meditation and a break from the barrage of daily life. So, there you have it, one big reason why I like balloons. And you thought they were just for flying.