Low Light photography is a funny old business, but one that I always come back to. Despite the 38 years since my first 'night image' and all the technological changes photography has seen, the actual method I use remains the same. You just open the shutter and count!
Many modern day photographers get so carried away and over complicate things technically (just look at a modern camera and all its unnecessary functions). Photographers were making images at night over a hundred years ago with just a box and a lens and they managed just fine.
So often the only thing new technology does is make people lazy, only its labelled as convenient or more efficient. This is especially true of photography and cameras that promise to make you a better photographer... If only that were true...
I'm often fascinated by the path certain photographers take in their lives and realize its often not what people would assume. Stephen Shore is one photographer that springs to mind, with most people only knowing him for the trips he made in the 70's and 80's across America. During one of Shores gallery talks some years ago I was intrigued to hear about the time Shore got married, moved to Montana and became a fly fisherman from 1980-1983. After his fishy stint, Shore then went on to produce his finest, and most important body of work American Prospects, published in 1987. I found this really fascinating in the same way I found Daniel Day Lewis' detour from acting to make shoes only come back a few years later and win an Oscar.
Not wanting to, but most willing to compare myself in such matters as Shore and Lewis, I have been; a survival instructor, a personal trainer, a knife maker (that's right), and very briefly a male model (very long ago, hair, slim, didn't know any better). But photography has always remained my number one passion, and with that a career I continued to pursue throughout my meanderings as; a knife wielding, iron pumping, forest dwelling, strike a pose northern Englishman.
The changes in circumstance over the years, (most noticeably my move to another country), have always brought a new and refreshing perspective not just to my work, but to life in general. I'm sure there's a song in all this somewhere, but sadly music is something I never got into...
You do not take a photograph you make it, is no longer true. A digital camera sensor takes an image and replicates it in the form of pixels, so there..
Eat your heart out Ansel!
Sourced from Professors Doyle's Diaries, December 27th 2021.
As the year draws to a close I thought I would share some juicy highlights right here on the Mode that is B. (As for the website, it is refined and fully stocked with no signs of getting any smaller...)
This year was mostly spent out in the Mojave with my 617 Pano, but there's also a little more besides.
Back to Night Vision and the old ways of working..
Finishing off a decade of shooting fires in California.
And a return to the everyday, wherever that may be..
Like most folk who blog, I now spend time trolling other peoples images on the fatal Instagram.
Its a love hate thing with one percent good photography and the constant question; Why would I, or anyone else want to show images the size of a postage stamp.
Of course you can check out my tiny images under the banner of Professor Doyle...
Its some time ago now when I stopped 'waiting' for the light here in the USA and here's why.
After driving around all day looking for things to photograph you are tired and loosing motivation- You set up and wait for the light by which time you have usually changed your mind about the shot- Then light arrives and is not what you thought so now you are in a right mood and you have wasted a whole day- Or, you turn around for a moment to check that stray dog is not going to bite you and when you turn back the magnificent light has vanished and you have wasted a whole day.
Chasing the light may be a little more stressful, but its often a lot more rewarding. All you need to do it work a little quicker...
Sadly no poppies this year in the Antelope Valley sadly due to lack of rain and snow. But still a beautiful place to visit, peaceful and still (although often very windy).
It had been five months since I photographed parts of the Bobcat fire aftermath and I was intrigued to see how the landscaped now looked.
Sadly, despite the grey ash now replaced with small flowers and grasses due to the irony of now fertile ground, the trees and shrubs were very much still black and very dead. For some reason I thought the trees may somehow survive and blossom once again. (Something I have seen happen with Joshua trees. )
It seems fitting, given the name, that the once lush green area around the Devils Punch Bowel in the Mojave now resembles a hellish looking landscape of burnt black trees.
I felt pretty sad during my time there, but felt it important to record what was in front of me.
April 2021
17.4.21
Hundreds of years a go a man made a box with a hole in it...
Its been a real joy doing night visions on film again and a real throwback to the early 2000's and my first book Night Vision- Intimacies of an unblinking eye..
Due to the lack of sensitivity from film exposures are much longer. But in those minutes, rather than seconds with digital, more things can happen and with that comes a greater sense of achievement.
This diner in Victorville CA was a real treat and shot just before they opened.
To the viewer it may seem that I just wander around with a big camera taking pictures (my wife's words). But behind the image/s there is always a story of how each image, or an entire project, came about.
The idea of Fridays Rainshadow came about completely by chance after a mountain drive and rediscovering a film camera I had not used for 15 years. After what could be described as a desert epiphany, I began to research the Mojave Desert and discovered all kinds of interesting places, and areas I wanted to visit. As the project grew, so did my research and knowledge about this unique area.
As I told the tax man, as part of my research I was intrigued to watch, Just Add Water. A delightful film set in Trona, a place located in the Searles Valley in the greater Mojave area, on the fringes of Death Valley. Having been to Trona several times in the past, usually on my way back from Death Valley, I knew it only as a place you drove through, or stopped for gas. So I was interested to see how the film depicted the area. My memories of Trona were all but forgotten before watching the film, but before the end I was all set on making the 3 hour drive out there a few days later.
What I couldn't get out of my mind was how badly the town of Trona was depicted. Surely the place could not be as bad as it looked in the movie. I certainly did not remember it being that bad... Well my friends, maybe a year of covid changed things, but, I can say without a long afternoon shadow of a doubt, that Trona is actually worse than you can imagine. This place makes the Salton Sea look like it did before the flood (you might have to research that).
I have always been fascinated by these places. But it does not come without an air of sadness that people choose, or have no choice, to live this way. Its so different from anything I know. But looking past the car wrecks and burnt out houses, the people I met were happy, content and loved living there.
As the light faded and I hit the road, I saw the surrounding Death Valley in all its glory. And then I realized why you would choose to live there....
Another cold dawn raid in the desert, although caught slightly off guard by the clocks going forward (who knew).
I often get fooled into thinking that setting out early in the AM means there will be no one around, but I couldn't be more wrong. 'What on earth are they doing over there!' I ask myself, but of course they probably say the same of me. Apparently everyone likes a burger at four in the morning...
I had intended to check out the scrap yard below after capturing part of it in my profiterole vision last week. Unsure what I would find, I was pleasantly surprised to find a joyous scene behind the big fence. Struggling to get some height, the owner very kindly let me stand on his forklift (his idea, not mine..) Thankfully no bones were broken, but I did rip a hole in my Abecrombie and Fitch jacket of 20 years, which was annoying...
When I first started photographing the desert I often wondered why people would live out there.
There you are driving along a dusty road with nothing but the odd Tumble Weed crossing your path. In the distance you see some kind of homestead with a rusty truck parked out front and perhaps a small water tank and a scabby dog. As you draw closer its still difficult to tell if someone actually lives there. Is is abandoned? is it accessible? Is it dangerous? (see dog) And then you see the signs. Any kind of Keep Out signage and I just keep going. I have no desire to trespass on someones property, even in the middle of nowhere. But that's not to say I won't peek through the fence. This particular homestead was interesting due to the threats of being shot (which of course is not legal in the state of California and I am certainly no threat.). But just looking got me chased down as I left in my little car.
I should add that I would not blame anyone for questioning me. I mean a 6'1 baldy white man with a big camera in the middle of nowhere is not something you see everyday.. But its always the same:
Angry Person:
"What the @<)%^& are you doing on my property" etc, etc. (not on property)
Me (sounding like Hugh Grant):
"Well hello. I'm just doing a few photographs out here in the desert"
Not so Angry Person:
"What for?"
Me:
"Well we don't have anything like this in England where we are from.... "
Friendly Person:
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. You have a nice day..."
Thankfully no one shot and I went on my merry way.
I spoke with my best old friend this week who has been documenting our home town for many years. We began our photography journey together, both just 'strange' young boys with cameras exploring back streets and the oddities a small town brings. We both applied for the same college, that extra A Level got me in, but sadly my friend was left to continue his hometown quest while I took to the northern coast and beyond...
Paul Reid. Cumbria, 2021
After a little reminiscing my good friend told me he was pretty much done with his project which spans more than 25 years. I think if I had stayed I would probably of done the same thing...
5.3.21
Another fine morning in the Rainshadow finding hidden things past forgotten.
Another AM outing this week with a drive through the dark, cold desert. Originally I had a gas station planned for my shot (thinking I could find it my memory) but got completely disorientated in the void and ended up at this cross roads (below). The dawn was breaking and it seemed like a good idea....
Managed to get out and do some night (very early morning) and early light shots which is something I have not done on film for a long long time.
I had forgotten how much more involved film is under not so ideal circumstances, and lets not forget the long exposure times... I also came to the conclusion that a panoramic mounted on a tripod is basically a long large format camera...
