Happy New Year!
My Christmas present to myself this year was a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter. Unfortunately it is back ordered for a while, so my instant gratification itch wasn't scratched. I suppose I'll appreciate it more once I do get it.
The last few weeks I've had the urge to get out and do some night photography. Unfortunately my extreme distaste for sub-freezing weather at 5am has kept me close to home. I've gone through a couple dozen of those little hand-warmers. I've never shot in the city at night, and it has been an interesting pastime, although a sad replacement for the mystery of remote nocturnal wilderness. I found some good compositions, and also have been toying with the combination of the natural light of dawn combined with the tungsten, incandescent, and flourescent glow of civilization. The combination makes for some interesting colors.
I did a timelapse movie of this scene on a 5 degree morning; of the sun rising and people shuffling down the stairs on their way to work that came out pretty interesting. I'll likely post it soon. I'm looking for some good electronic music to put with it before I post it. (suggestions?) I have always thought about art as having music with it; a soundtrack of sorts. Most of my night-nature photos I think I would set to Massive Attack or some Native American music. There's also a song by the late Joe Strummer called "Long Shadow" that puts me back in the middle of the Utah desert at night. Now, with the timelapse video, music is a necessity, and the city's soundtrack is most certainly electronic...
This one's soundtrack would have to be "Skyway" by The Replacements. The song is permanently engrained in my brain from the '80's.
