VN #041: Night Photography
Posted September 15, 2024
Night Photography
Over the years, while exploring and photographing British Columbia’s Cariboo Chilcotin region, I would occasionally find myself in a place that spoke to me about experiencing and photographing it at night. I would imagine the place under moonlight, starlight, or under a black sky with no light at all. Each would require a different response technically and each would result in a unique perspective.
That excited me!
Here are a few night-time images; each in a different location, each requiring a different technique, and each providing a different visual identity for the region.
Four Tepees
While visiting the indigenous Xatsull Heritage Village along the banks of the Fraser River, and seeing these four tepees in a row, I imagined how they would look if I painted them with the light of my flashlight under a dark moonless sky.
After getting permission, I did just that; I walked through the village painting each tepee separately during a time exposure.
Star trails around the North star
It was our last night while photographing the spectacular Niut Range in the heart of the Chilcotin Ark, when I realized the sky was going to be clear. My step-daughter Teresa and I set up our cameras and tripods before dark. While choosing our skyline composition, we noticed that the North star was within our viewscape. Whoopee!
After a short sleep in our tents, we woke up a 1am, clicked the camera shutter open, went back to sleep for 8400 seconds (over 2 hours), and then up again to close the shutter and finish the capture.
Star trails over the Farwell Canyon sandune
I dreamt up the idea of painting the Farwell Canyon sand dune with the light of a flashlight while sitting by the fire at home in mid-winter. I told my friend Mike Duffy about the idea knowing full well he would be up for the adventure.
In May, we climbed to the dune, pitched our tents, slept until dark, and then went to work photographing. With the warm light of my flashlight during a short time-exposure, I carefully painted the crest of the dune with light. The light on the far-right horizon is the light pollution from the city of Williams Lake.
Lightning strike on Wolverine Mountain. Bowron Lakes
On a clear September evening, while camped and sitting by a fire on Isaac Lake, I imagined how I might create an electrical storm over Wolverine Mountain.
While exploring photographic expression a month earlier, I discovered a way to create lightning strikes using only my camera. The technique can only be accomplished during a short 30-minute interval at twilight on a crystal-clear night.
The conditions were perfect; I set up my composition, remembered my newly discovered technique, and made the above image.
The Milky way
I was in the middle of nowhere it seemed; complete silence, darkness, and high above the Fraser River Canyon with not a trace of humanity in sight. My purpose was to capture the milky way.
With a spotlight on my head to see the dials on my camera, I set up my composition and started my time exposure. As luck would have it, a few clouds moved in to add interest to the composition while a shooting star shot through the viewscape. It was an incredible evening I will never forget.
Full moon over the grasslands
My friend Mike Duffy and I had just arrived back at our vehicles after an exciting overnight adventure to the bottom of Churn Creek Canyon. We were exhausted, and while getting ready to crawl into our sleeping bags, I happened to look up to unexpectedly see a full moon rising above the ridgeline.
I was tired, but not that tired! I unpacked my camera bag and once again went to work.
Exploring the land and expressing your discoveries through photography is an adventure that has made life meaningful for me; adventures of a lifetime.
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