I had the opportunity to join Tim Baskerville and a great group of night photographers at Mare Island Naval Shipyard again last night. I had no idea there were so many folks doing night photography in the Bay Area – there must have been close to 30 photographers. Clearly Tim is the focal point for this group, nearly everyone there had been introduced to night photography through one of his classes or workshops. Visit The Nocturnes web site for more information.

We began at 2:00 in the afternoon with a daytime tour of the island. While it is now undergoing redevelopment (i.e. – real estate development) there are still vast portions of the island that are filled with old military and industrial sites and which make compelling photographic subjects.

After gathering to review participants’ photographs and then share pizza, the group’s evening photographic activities began. Below is the first photo I made, an image of the icon Mare Island smokestack shot in the last light of the day.

… I have a suggestion for Canon in re the “big” 20D/30D/40D question. (You know, the one causing untold neverending shuddupshuddupSHUDDUP existential anguish all over every Canon forum on the ‘net….)

The suggestion: drop it.

That’s right. Drop it altogether. Why does Canon need a camera in between the XTi (400D) and the 5D, anyway? Answer: maybe it doesn’t.