Tom Paiva's Night Photography Blog

Over the past few years, I’ve been trying my best to stay with twilight and night photography, as the site is called.  Yet we dislike being stereotyped, including me.  After all, I shoot at all times of day, not just at night.

This post, I’ve decided to show something very different for me.  Recently, I had use for a couple of weeks of an 18″ 8×10 inch “box camera” with no lens, just a little hole where a lens would be, and a place to put the film at the other.  In this case, the “pinhole” was .92mm in diameter, about twice the size of the period at the end of this sentence.  For 8×10 at this focal length, this is the equivalent of around f488 (and you thought f16 was stopping down!)  Exposures in bright sun are around 15 seconds with ISO 100 film.  Because the camera is on a tripod and the exposures are seconds to minutes, I liken the process to night photography.

There is no way to view what you’re capturing, and there are no aids whatsoever on the “box” to help guide you.  You simply put it on a tripod, insert a film holder, point it in the direction of your “view” and estimate the field of view, plumb the camera, open the small cover over the “pinhole”, count to 15, and then close the flap.  It’s quite anti-climatic and a very free-form, seat-of-the-pants type of photography with few, if any, rules.

Because of the cost of 8×10 film and processing, I shot just 15 views.  I found the field of view is similar to 85mm on a 35mm camera or full frame digital.  These are scanned from the one negative I shot of each view.

As you can see, the focus is equally “sharp” or “soft”, depending on your outlook, throughout the image in this shot of a jetty.  The blurring on the water on the right is a sailboat in this 15 second exposure.  I like the way the water looks on the left swirling around the rocks.  As you can see, steadying the camera on the tripod to get the horizon straight is a challenge and I almost nailed it, considering I didn’t use a level.  That seemed inappropriate for this sort of photography.

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Here is a view from the jetty towards a beached yacht at Playa del Rey (part of Los Angeles).  The surf swirls around in this pocket of beach.  It looked nothing like this to the naked eye.  That’s the charm of this type of camera, as it ‘sees’ differently.

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I went onto the beach to get a closer view of the yacht and the surf pounding against it.  I waited a few minutes after I set up for the seagulls to return for some foreground interest.  They were pretty still for their 15 second group portrait!  Considering there is no lens, this is sharper than I thought it would be, both in the closest foreground and the most distant subjects.  Note the blurring people on the beach in the background.  Yes, my feet and the tripod got wet as the tide was coming in.

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I tried shooting several types of subjects to see what would work best.  Rocks-and-roots are a common pinhole subject, but I found my versions were staid.  That’s not been my subject matter for many years no matter what the camera.  Here I tried a semi-industrial farm area the San Joaquin Valley (the vertical guy-wires are for a huge cell phone tower).  The clouds were moving faster than I thought, as you can see them blur past.  Below is a shot with my point-and-shoot digital camera that shows the wooden box camera and the view.  The soft grittiness of the pinhole version has it’s own feel.

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I went up to Reno/Lake Tahoe for a friend’s wake and ash-scattering and took the camera along.  This view is along highway 50 coming into Carson City.  I wanted to see the close/distance relationship and focusing.  It’s difficult to really see the unique texture and softness at this scale on a computer monitor, as they are only about a quarter of the size of the original negative.  The tonal range was excellent–typical of 8×10 negatives.

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Here I was preparing to shoot the Bowers Mansion, a NPS historical landmark between Carson City and Reno.  It was dark overcast and it called for a 5 minute daytime exposure.  Then, in the middle of the exposure, the wind kicked up and it began to snow–in late May, no less!  It was cold, wet and nasty for large format photography and was 30 degrees.  You can really see how primitive the camera is with an 8×10 film holder making the exposure.  Below is the shot I made with the pinhole camera.

The snow didn’t show because of the long exposure and it was only for the last minute of the exposure, at that.  I wouldn’t have started the exposure if I knew it was going to snow!  I think I composed this well, after figuring what the field of view was.  I was impressed that I centered the building as well as I did!  This, like the others are full frame, with no crop (the black rebate edge tells it all).  The softness of the trees moving in the wind softens this already soft image.

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I shot this the day after the evening ashes scattering at the end of this pier on Lake Tahoe.  I wanted to have an image as a remembrance to my friend of over 30 years.  With this camera, and only 8-8×10 sheets of film for 4 days, I had to make each shot count.  I walked up the beach and saw these 4 chairs in a backyard.  I didn’t move them, but had to find the right perspective to get the field of view I wanted.  This is a 30 second exposure, as the sun was peeping in and out of the clouds during the exposure.  I desaturated the color by about half to mute the bright colors of the chairs, lake and sky.  This is my favorite image done with this camera and I feel I succeeded in my homage to Mr. S.K.  RIP, my friend.

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If this camera was mine, I would put some guidelines on it for an approximate field of view on each side.  Also, I think a “wide angle” pinhole of about 8 inches instead of 18 inches would be more fun.  One could really show the infinite depth of focus with such a camera.  Again, thanks to Matt for letting me try this camera for something new and different.

Recently I got access to shoot on an oil tanker in Long Beach CA and stayed after sunset to get some twilight and night shots.  Photography is highly restricted on a discharging tanker because of the possibility of fire or explosion.  This ship was off-loading bunker oil, which is a thick oil used to power ships and not as volatile as other products like gasoline.

This ship is an American flagged ship, which made communications with the crew easier than usual.  The captain was very accommodating and allowed me access to shoot except within 100 feet of the discharge hoses.

This is the view from the roof of the wheelhouse, or the flying bridge, literally the top of the ship.  The mix of sodium vapor lights on the orange deck complements the cool blue tones in the foreground, which is actually white.

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This view is right behind the wheelhouse (on the right).  The structure on the left is a crane.  This shot wouldn’t be as interesting if shot midday.  Most everything looks good this time of day!

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This ship had recently been in drydock, and was very clean and freshly painted.  Again, the complement of orange and blue really works in this shot.

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This is a fire-fighting nozzle on the “B” deck.  The green tone is from the tarnished brass, adding more color to an already colorful image.

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Back on the dock, you can see the 12 inch hoses that discharge the oil.  It then goes to a tank farm about a quarter mile away via underground piping.

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On another note, a couple of weeks ago while in the Bay Area, I reconnected with my old college teacher and mentor, Steve Harper, who first got me started in night photography many years ago.  Now in his 80s, nearly blind and hard of hearing, he still has the passion for photography, as difficult as it is for him.  We were lucky and had a warm, windless evening.

The above shot is at twilight in San Rafael, looking south towards the Richmond Bridge.  These people sure have a nice view, living right on the water.  In the upper right you can see the new eastern span lit up in the background, about 7 miles away.

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In this 4 minute exposure, you can see the full moon through the leaves and its reflection off the bay.  The foreground light is from an LED street lamp.

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Using my Sony camera at a very high ISO, I was able to make this hand-held shot of Steve setting up a shot.  Note the magnifier he is holding that he uses to see the screen on the back of the camera.

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Steve was nice enough to sit for this two minute exposure for the last shot that evening.  The shadow to the left of his head is his dog, Georgia, who refused to sit for the two minutes.

It was great to catch up with Steve and go out shooting for a couple of hours.  It was like old times, talking shop, wandering about looking for the right view and making images.  I was happy to see that he still has the enthusiasm to get out and shoot, despite the physical limitations.  I hope at his age, I’ll still be able to be as engaged and continue to create.  Thanks, Steve.

It’s been a couple of months since I’ve posted, as there has been lots going on personally, hindering me from shooting personal work.  This post I’m looking at images shot on the Interstate 5 series over the past few months, choosing what I think are a varied selection, both in theme and style.

This first image, taken at a seldom used exit, shows the expanse of the San Joaquin Valley.  I put the view camera low at around two feet off the ground to play with the perspective.  Note the truck on the interstate, dead center.

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The above image, taken about a half mile from I-5, shows the parched earth in this watering hole on a farm.  Evidence of the drought were everywhere in the Valley as the grasses were more gray than brown.

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Here is an overpass without an exit.  I frequently have to drive miles out of the way to find access to these overpasses.  The approach ramps are usually dirt, with evidence of farm equipment traffic.  Also, these overpasses gives me a chance to shoot undisturbed from the center of the interstate traffic.  I’ve been hassled by the CHP on overpasses with exits several times.  The sagebrush show how infrequently this is used.

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This early February view from within an almond orchard shows the winter sky.  A warm spell has caused early buds on the trees.  The interstate is beyond.

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I’ve had my eye on an abandoned farm to the west of I-5 for some time, but each time I exited off of highway 152 to get access (a 15 mile detour of farm and dirt roads), there were people there.  I also wanted to be there in the late afternoon, and I’m seldom in this area that time of day.  Finally, this winter it all came together, and I got in via a break in the fence to shoot for an hour.  The following two images are from that locale.

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In Tracy, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, there is a golf course that straddles I-580, the interstate spur that connects SF with I-5.  The above shot took about a half hour to shoot, as I wanted to shoot with a group of players in just the right place, with a truck on the interstate in the background.  This is the Number 4 hole.

This course straddles the interstate, with a tunnel for players and their golf carts to transit the freeway.  I went into the clubhouse of the Tracy Golf and Country Club, and asked around for access.  The marketing director was nice enough to offer me access to shoot for this project and gave me a golf cart to use.  The following is a shot I did near the 7th hole.  It looks easy–but it wasn’t!

I tried to shoot this with the carts coming through at random, but I could never coordinate to get a truck to come by.  This group was nice enough to drive their carts; park; stay still; and notify me when a truck was coming by (the approach from the left is blind because of dense trees).  At freeway speeds, they come by quickly.  Thanks to those guys for being patient with me.

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I saw this red palm tree(!) on an earlier trip and made a note to come back and shoot it.  It’s taken from the middle of a motel parking lot.  The incongruity with the palm trees on the right and corporate signage between them says “interstate” to me.  Red coconuts, anyone?

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This view, closer to home for me, is the intersection of I-5 and Highway 14 that splits off to the northern desert LA communities of Palmdale and Lancaster.  It’s taken from the “Old Road”, also known as the “Ridge Road” the 100 year old predecessor to I-5, up and over the Grapevine.  The two trucks in this shot are on I-5.  I was hoping a train would go through this tunnel, but had no idea of scheduling.  I waited about 10 minutes to get a couple of trucks correctly positioned in the shot, hoping for a train.  Typically, as I packed up, a Metroliner train came out of the tunnel.  Still, I’m happy with this shot as this view is rarely seen and shows the scope and scale of the highway system–unnerving here in earthquake country.

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This view of the California Aqueduct is north of Castaic.  It’s a twilight shot, as you can see the headlights up on I-5 in this one minute exposure.  The temperature was in the 30s and the winds were howling.  There is more to be done here for a future shoot.  I had a fellow photographer friend with me that day, David Green, who lives along the Ridge Road and we explored together the 100 year old abandoned road and how it relates to the modern I-5.

With the Bay Bridge now open and mostly complete, I’ve been turning my attentions to other projects.  Some of you may know that I’ve been shooting on Interstate 5 in California, that forlorn but necessary major artery between San Francisco and Los Angeles, that virtually everyone in the state has used, at least once.

Begun as a challenge three years ago to show that there are visually stimulating views to be found and made, I have been taking many extra hours on my drives between the two cities to explore and photograph with my view camera.  As I’ve mentioned on a previous blog post, I’ve been shooting this project now for over 2 years, and I find there are still many more views to be made at different seasons and weather, and times of day.

Most consider I-5 a flat, linear ribbon of concrete, but it does, indeed undulate and turn.  By getting off the highway, you see that it’s not as flat as it might seem from the driver’s seat.  I’ve explored each and every exit between SF and LA and have even shot from many of the overpasses that have no exit (more on that in another blog post).  This late afternoon shot is about light and shadow and simple graphics.  All the signs are very readable in an enlargement.

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This image, also a late afternoon fall shot shows how much the highway ramp has been built up on the descent coming north at the town of Grapevine.  It took some 15 years to build the highway, working around the existing highway US-99.  The “Grapevine” has an incline of 6%, one of the steepest interstate highway grades in the state.

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In the northern section, these three abandoned trailers among the sagebrush made for some interesting tones in the partial overcast light.  I-5 is in the background.

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Here is another late afternoon shot, made heading back to LA.  Notice the swallows’ nests under the overpass.  They were darting around quite a bit this time of day feasting on flying insects.

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On this evening, I slipped into a closed rest area that was being remodeled.  The light on the highly reflected signs is from a security lamp.  The wind was really blowing on this hot summer night (it was still over 90 degrees).  You can tell by the moving trees and even the sign on the right was wiggling and creaking in the wind (and is slightly blurry).  Yes, that’s I-5 southbound in the background in this 2 minute exposure.

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This is my favorite time of day, after the sun has set and there is this glow in the sky.  The sunset is behind me in this shot, and we are looking east.  The sky was, indeed this magenta and the transparency looks as intense in color as this, if not more so.  What you are looking at is the Earth Shadow or Belt of Venus.  The blue band near the horizon is the actual shadow of the earth seen in the Valley haze.  This only last a few minutes, at most.

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I got off on a dirt road to a farming area when I came across this water pumping station.  I-5 is in the background.  It’s difficult to see the detail at this resolution, so here is an enlargement:

If you look closely, you can see the streaking headlights on the highway in this 90 second exposure.

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I’ve stopped at this fruit stand many times, but as it closes at 5pm, it’s almost always closed after dark.  In mid-November, there was still some twilight in the sky when they were about to close.  In the last seconds of this 90 second exposure, they turned off the lights.  The tail lights streaking along the interstate through the open windows adds another dimension to this image.

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There is an overcast sky in this twilight shot.  The red streaks are from a truck getting off the exit.  The highway headlights are visible center-right, as the highway curves into the distance.

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I was setting up for another shot, when this semi-truck rig pulled in and stopped.  I re-composed, as the driver moved into his sleeping area and turned on his TV, giving the glow in the cab.  It is night-time with a near full moon illuminating the sky in this 10 minute exposure.  The driver never saw me, as it was much darker than appears here.

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Time of year and weather really makes a difference even in California, where many people seem to think we have no seasons.  In these two shots, the first was taken from a farm road last February, when it had been raining quite a bit and the sky is dense overcast:

The trees are bare and it has a wintry look, especially for central California, and the wild grasses are green for a change.  The next image, taken from virtually the same spot, was shot last month, in November, nine months later.

Here we have a sunny but cool day and the nut trees show some fall color.  The grasses are brown like they usually are from being scorched by the 100+ degree days of summer and no rain.

These two images show why there are so many options to photograph the same subject in different situations.  I especially like this view because it shows how much material was moved to build up the roadway to make I-5 seem “so flat and boring”.  In reality, I-5 is fast and efficient.  It still intrigues me and I’ll keep shooting…