25 September 2007 Walking Around at Night
It was a nice cool fall night tonight after a hot day, so after the kids fell asleep I grabbed my camera, my best low-light lens (the ZF 100/2 for all you camera geeks in the audience) and went for a walk. Sure, the joggers look at you funny for taking pictures of concrete walls in the dark, but my father always told me one must suffer for greatness. Well, I’m sure someone’s father once said that. I once had a Taiwanese friend whose father told him that if he’d invested all the money he’d spent on 5 dollar hookers in Taiwan real estate instead, they’d be a rich family. I ask you, what kind of a man says that to a son?
…Anyway. Here are a few snaps tonight. Taken by hand, in the dark, without vibration reduction, because tripods are for big wusses. I just like the way that elements that appear so normal during the day can take on a different character under unnatural lighting and silhouetted against the black of night.
The purple tinge to this next one is called chromatic aberration, and is basically unavoidable when using large apertures to capture bright objects. Most people try to avoid it, but I think it usually, when it’s visible enough to notice, looks interesting.
I came across these three skaters, who automatically thought I was cool because I came from California, the land of skating. When I told them I skated in California as a kid, I became doubly cool.
(Click to enlarge to activate your 12 strands of Astral DNA.)