... Cameras get frostbite, too.

One of my favorite things to shoot is absolutely anything at night. The lighting can be surreal and unlike anything you'll get during the day, and something commonplace can be transformed into otherworldly. Midnight Haircut, above, I took on 35mm with an exposure of 20-30 minutes.  I am also inexplicably drawn to the use of TVs and monitors -- especially old ones -- in sculpture and photography.  In my sketchbook there are a couple ideas revolving around old monitors or abandoned TV sets. There's a very mysterious quality to what's inside or what's behind the screen.  And when placed in an unusual setting, the monitor becomes a character or presence in and of itself.

This week, Conscientious pointed me to the work of Blake Gordon, who has visited both of these topics in his "Stories" -- Nightwalks and Reality TV. The shots in Reality TV are pretty much great, except for the in-your-face narration added between shots: "American children spend more time watching TV than any other activity except sleeping." Cue "The More You Know" jingle and shooting star. I think the images are strong enough to make a statement on their own; I'm especially drawn to the photos without the presence of "the observer," like the Lake Travis, TX one above. As for Nightwalks, I can't say for certain he doesn't use his own lighting crew a la Gregory Crewdson, but assuming he doesn't, this work further solidifies my admiration for what I like to call "found lighting." It's normally referred to as natural light, but that doesn't give the photographer any credit. ;)

While I'm on the topic of "found lighting" and night photography, I'd like to give a quick local artist shout-out to Teri Fullerton, who taught a class I took last year at MCAD in portraits and natural lighting. The above photo is from her "Falling in Love at the End of the Universe" collection; it was taken using only the headlights of her car. I wish Minneapolis wasn't so freezing at night in the winter, because now I'm really in the mood to take my camera out in the middle of the night.  The last time I did long exposure night photography, my camera kept freezing (literally) and the aperture would close before I wanted it to.  Can someone knit my camera a Snuggie?