There's something in the night
Diners line up at a food truck in East Austin…
Historically, I was a chaser of good light. In terms of when I went out to take photos, it was the traditional approach: sunrise, sunset, and blue hour. Outside of that, I sort of didn’t care. I just wanted great light. I often got it - or “good enough” light - but that was the end of my shooting. When blue hour was over and darkness fell, I was done.
But no more.
Over the last year or so, I have really started to get into taking photos after dark in the city. There is just something about it. I love to wander the streets, looking for pockets of light and color, and just generally lurk about looking for a shot.
And I have discovered that there is just so much to enjoy after dark, photographically speaking. While I used to think that the good light was over once darkness fell, I now think of the interesting scenes you can photograph in the dark. Especially when in a downtown area, there are always little things happening here and there that catch my eye.
You see, I think that I used to only chase that “epic” shot or amazing light, and when those options were exhausted, I just hung it up. I always felt like it was too dark at night and the light was “boring”. I assumed that if the light wasn’t interesting then the photos would not be interesting either. Boy was I wrong.
I also used to carry a bag of lenses and a tripod around when I would photograph a city, which frankly gets a bit tiring after a while. You can call me lazy if you want to, and you may be right. But it gets tiring, lazy or not. Then you have all these options in your bag, and you feel like you should be using them all. So you switch lenses to try something new. Then you switch back. It sometimes felt like I was just carrying all this stuff because I owned it, and I would bring it along “just in case”.
These days, I most often just take a single prime lens and no tripod. I shoot handheld in cities at night, and it is amazingly freeing to do so. While I love my tripod and it certainly has its place, you just can’t do the same things when you are connected to it. Your movement is somewhat limited and you are basically less free. And it causes me to miss some moments that I do not miss when I am shooting handheld.
My favorite lens for this type of work is the Sony 24mm f/1.4 prime lens. It’s just a fantastic piece of glass and one that I am really thankful I was able to get. I have always loved sort of a wide view of things, and thus 24mm is spot on for me. But of course the main draw of the lens is that wide open aperture. Once it is dark, I drop into f/1.4, bump up my ISO and I am off and shooting. I feel like I come alive.
Like everyone who is pursuing creative endeavors, my style and interests have evolved over the years. I always felt disappointed if I returned from a trip or an outing and did not witness any amazing light. I almost felt like it was a waste.
But I am different now, and my shots are different. I feel I am on a journey towards becoming a bit of a street photographer. While I used to just want to shoot “epic” cityscapes (and these were nearly always done in HDR), now I am more interested in capturing the everyday scenes of a place. Boring light? No problem! I am more than content to wander the streets of a city and just capture life happening there.
Sure, I still like the big, beautiful grand things in a city as much as I ever did. But they are no longer the focus (no pun intended) of my photography. They may be some of the anchoring shots on a trip, but I am finding just as much joy (and maybe more) with the little in-between, filler shots that I capture. In some ways, I find these more interesting. I think they are more tangible and accessible for viewers. They are real. And, they often tell a story.
Now, I still love my big colors, so although I am edging towards street photography more and more, I am not traditional in the sense that I am still editing in color, vs monochrome. For many years, I never even considered monochromes, but just as I have changed in terms of subject matter, I have also loosened up in terms of color. I find myself experimenting more and more with various flavors of monochrome images in my editing, and I love it. I will continue to experiment and grow in that direction. But of course there is no giving up on color for me. :-)
These photos were all captured the other night here in Austin. I wandered on East 6th Street for a little while, enjoying the comings and goings of the people and training my prime lens on whatever I found interesting.
Are they epic shots? Not even close. But do I find them interesting? Absolutely. And that is my approach these days - find something interesting and capture it.
Thanks for listening.
