It has been far too long since I’ve posted on the subject of night photography, one of the subjects that interests me a great deal. There is so much other stuff for me to photograph during the summer months – urban and natural landscape, “my” Sierra Nevada, the coast, and so on – that I tend to slack off on the night photography this time of year. However, as summer draws to an end, night photography is one subject that seems to increasingly begin to interest me again.

So, with that in mind, a few notes related to the subject.

Late last week fellow SF Bay Area photographer Ivan Makarov contacted me to say that he was organizing a group of photographers to do a night photography shoot at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard. He knew that I have shot there in the past (lots of examples in my night photography gallery) and asked for some advice about access and locations. I shared with him a bit of what I know about the location and also connected him with Tim Baskerville of The Nocturnes, the SF Bay Area night photography group since Tim is our local guru of all things related to night photography. After consulting with Tim and getting permission from the folks at Mare Island, Ivan got back to me and I decided to join his group. I won’t spoil the fun by saying too much here, but I’m currently working on photographs from the outing and they will show up here in a few weeks. (Impatient readers can get an early look by checking out my Flickr stream.)

So, since the pump was primed with that bit of night photography last weekend, I’ll catch up with the night photography news.

One great source for night photography information – and especially for coverage of shows featuring night photographers – is Andy Frazer’s Night Photography Blog. Recent news at his blog includes the following:

• An opening this week of a night photography show in Alameda featuring the work of several well-know local night photographers: Troy Paiva, Mike Hows and Joe Reifer. Follow the first link in this bullet to find more info about the location, times/dates, and the opening reception.
• Also during the month of August Any kept up a steady stream of posts highlighting a number of compelling examples of night photography – visit the blog and take a look.

Over at The Nocturnes Night Photography Blog you’ll find some seemingly random quotations… mixed in with some very interesting posts on local night photography events and shows.

I’m hearing rumors of an upcoming Mare Island Reunion for previous participants in The Nocturnes workshops. If you are a  past Nocturnes participant and you haven’t heard from Tim… you might want to check this out.

Finally, if you are looking for some information on how to do night photography, let me point out two resources:

• The Nocturnes web site is the portal to a ton of information on the subject, ranging from technique to photographer to workshop opportunities. I strongly recommend that you visit!
• For a very quick list of some basic considerations for night photography, take a look at my own Hints for Night Photography post.