NOCTURNES : The Art of Surrealistic Landscape Part 2

Quiet Corridor
© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

Quiet Corridor is one of the new set of nocturnes I made last week. On my previous night trips, I have covered 2 abandoned buildings in one of the areas and as the daylight started to break, I wasn't able to make any more photographs in this other abandoned building, just right opposite. I was so sure that there are many good opportunities for good nocturnes to be made.

I was right. And with the help of my friend who tagged along with me on that night, we discussed about the mixture of colored gels and which lighting method to use. For this nocturne photograph, both lighting techniques are applied. Let me explain how this photograph was made.

The first light-painting with a 1-million candle light power searchlight, covered with a lavender colored gel, was applied on each pillar on the right side, which also spill some light over onto the left-side wall. This helps to eliminate the dark shadow area, revealing more details and textures.

Next, I walked over to the left side of the staircase and using a green colored gel on my flashlight, I popped twice onto the stairs. Thereafter, I walked all the way to the end of the corridor and keep myself out of sight from the camera. With my searchlight, I switched it on and shone yellow light onto the ceiliing for about 10 seconds. That's it! Total exposure timing is 172seconds.

I really love these 3 colors as they match so well together. Basic color matches play an important part in nocturne photography and just like art paintings, it's the photographer who (as the painter) decides what color to match and to use colors to convey emotional message or express certain feeling, in their work.

To view more of my nocturnes, a new set of nocturne photographs are uploaded in my website.

The Beauty of Night Sounds

Last night (23 May 2009), I stayed up for the whole night doing some really good nocturne photography in the north area, with a friend of mine. Not only was I making light-painting photographs, I was making some good black & white night photographs with my TLR camera as well.

As I have always love the night atmosphere with its tranquility, I too experienced the most beautiful sound of the night i.e. the cricket sound. The sound really adds up to the atmospheric mood in the quiet night especially when you are alone. There's this sense of peace, though I'm busy in the process of seeing, composing, thinking, planning for the light-painting. It's just so fabulous and mesmerizing, at least to me.

I got myself a digital voice recorder 3 months ago and have used it for recording seminar talks and to record essential detailed data information during all my night photography outings. Data information that includes location, camera settings, techniques I used, etc. So at that moment it occurred to me that I can use it to record the night sounds and the idea of putting up the recorded sounds in my night blog site just popped out. The sound would make my blog site more interesting and alive. Hopefully readers who visit my night blog site will be able to feel more present as they read and see my night photographs.

So here it is. I embedded one of the sounds I recorded on my blog site. If it distracts you, you can turn the player off which is located right at the bottom right section of my blog site.

NOCTURNES : The Art of Surrealistic Landscape

Abandoned House
© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

Finally, I've come up with the right title for my nocturne photography work, NOCTURNES: The Art of Surrealistic Landscape.

The photograph above was made on 9 May, Saturday night with a couple of friends. Each of us took a different vantage point and I did all the light paintings. Pity we couldn't stay longer, so I decided to go back on my own on the following Tuesday, 12 May right after work.

I found myself getting gutsier and bolder than ever, traveling all the way up to the north area after work to make some good nocturne photographs, all alone in this dark quiet place. I really had a good time exploring the location and certainly enjoyed the quiet night atmosphere. Well, I didn't stay long, say for about one and a half hours.

I made a point and effort to go back on the following Saturday and stayed there until dawn. It was fabulous doing nocturnes in that place. You can view more nocturne images directly at my website here.

Stay tuned for more night and nocturnes photographs here at my blog site, OR you can subscribe to my blog via email or RSS, by selecting yr choice in the column, First Time Here?.

Thank you for reading.

Frank Relle Nightscapes Photography

Recently I came across this night photographer's work on COLOR, a magazine on collection of fine photography. His name is Frank Relle.

Frank Relle (b. 1976) is a photographer born and based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a 2007 International Photography Award and the Photo Lucida Critical Mass top 50 photographers.His work is represented in major public and private collections, including the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. His photographs have been printed in the New Yorker, the Southern Review and the Oxford American magazines.

Relle continues to document the changing architecture of New Orleans and is working to share his images with an international audience hoping to inspire people around the world to help rebuild the city of New Orleans with the integrity she deserves.

To see Frank Relle's photography work, visit his website here and to understand Frank's photography work, you can read his 60-second interview blog article here.

My Nocturnes Again

Well, here I am again. Back on to my night photography blog after a year of absence. I'm back again this time for another series of my nocturnes. Here are the 4 nocturnes I did on 2 separate nights. The first 3 shots were made last October and the last shot was made last night, all at the same location.

It was thrilling and full of excitement as I once again did it for this shot. And I thought to myself that I should go back and make some more nocturnes photographs. Well, I do have another location in mind that I want to explore, but based on my outing experience last night, my 2 camera batteries power just not enough to carry on making pictures for as long as 3 to 4 hours. I need to get 5 more spare batteries.

So if you have and want to sell off yr camera batteries, please do let me know. I'm using a Nikon D70s so it's the Li-on battery pack, EN-EL3a.

Some information on the photograph made:

This light-painting photograph was made with my Nikon D70s on Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8 lens, set at the smallest aperture @ f/22 on 'B' mode, for long exposure timing of about 3mins 30secs. Five colored filter gels are used - Blue, Yellow, Green, Lavender and Violet. WB is set to Incandescent (or Tungsten). Photograph is recorded on digital RAW.

The star burst effect on the extreme right frame is caused by the road side lamp, with which closing down to the smallest aperture will have this result. The 2 stripes of light trails are caused by the MRT trains coming and going from the MRT station nearby, on the top and passing by vehicles, on the bottom.

© 2009 Martin Liew Photography.
All nocturne photographs are solely under copyrights of Martin Liew.

My Nocturnes

It's been 5 months now since my last night photography outing at Pulau Ubin last November. A couple of weeks ago I realised I still got a roll of Kodak slide film right inside my FM10 since the last night outing with a couple of friends at the Singapore Btanic Garden. Dated back October 2007. Well obviously the film color should have been deteriorated but what the heck. Since I'm doing nocturnes, this isn't a major issue to me.

So I decided to do some good nocturnes again. What you see here are the latest photographs I made. Pleasant viewing.

Cacti
© 2007 Martin Liew Photography

Trees of Stone
© 2008 Martin Liew Photography

Trees of Stone
© 2008 Martin Liew Photography

The following 2 nocturne images are results of re-make. I re-made them because I did not get it right in the past attempts. With the right amount of light-painting control and of course, the camera setting, I got it what I wanted.

"Red Hot Volcanoes"
© 2007 Martin Liew Photography

"Purple Volcanoes"
© 2007 Martin Liew Photography

Nocturne Photography @ Pulau Ubin

I organized a night/nocturne photography outing last Saturday, 24 Nov 2007 in Pulau Ubin. It was a small group of 6, including myself. It was fun and every participant get to do the light-paintings. It was a full moon night and some of the images are illuminated by the moon light, which created such effect as if it was taken during dawn or dusk.

Here are my nocturne images. Pleasant viewing.

Mamam Beach

Rubber Trees

Floral Nocturne 生命之歌

Ubin Taxi

Ubin Taxi
© 2007 Martin Liew Photography

All photographs are made with Tamron 17-35mm lens on Nikon D70s. All photographs are made on the spot with strong power torchlights on 5 colored gels, except Floral Nocturne - light-painted with a LED torchlight.

Ethereal Days by Chris Conrad

In August 2007 issue of Black & White Photography magazine (UK), I read an article on Chris Conrad's portfolio, Ethereal Days, in which the magazine featured some of his most amazing and stunning night photographs taken on the area around Moab, USA.

Chris started a portfolio on the fleeting pools of water that exist in the redrock canyons after rainstorms, he began the Oases series.

"I was searching for a different take on the area around Moab, looking for a way to capture the fleeting ephermeral views that appear and pass so quickly. The Oases series then led me into the night photos, and the Ethereal Days series began."

The technical difficulties involved in night reflections are myriad, and Chris' technique requires him to find the subject and set up the camera early, anticipating the path of the moon and stars. Pre-exposing the scenes to build some shadow detail, he uses a combination of polarizer and red filters - also adding split neutral density filters - to hold density down in the sky portion of the negative during this first exposure. After darkness falls, he opens the shutter again to catch the stars and moon trails, often leaving it open for up to eight hours.

Chris' Equipment:

• A Techihara 5x4in is Chris' main camera, with his favorite lens being a Nikkor 75mm.
• A Rodenstock 135mm is his back-up lens, for those times when the Nikkor is too wide.
• A Pentax Digital spotmeter allows him to figure out the difficult exposures involved in night work.
• His film is Ilford FP4 Plus, abd occasionally HP5 Plus, for the extra speed.
• His developer of course is Kodal HC-110.
• Another camera often used is his Pentax 67II with 45mm lens, loaded with either Kodak TMAX or Ilford FP4 Plus.
• For pure digital work, he use Canon EOS 20D with 16-35mm lens.
• For printing, his paper of choice is Moab Entrada Ntural, using either a Septone or a QuadtoneRIP program. The paper is run through either an Epson 2300 or an Epson 7600 printer.

To view Chris Conrad's photographs, please click here.
Here's the 5-minutes video on "Ethereal Days".

Closing Ceremony of National Stadium

30 June 2007 Saturday was the day Singaporean witnessed the closing ceremony of our National Stadium. I was supposed to go back there for some re-make of photographs I did in early June. Well I guess it's too late for me now. That evening, I received a call from a friend, who happened to have an extra complmentary ticket to the closing ceremony event. It was a last-minute call but I gladly accepted the offer.

I arrived late at around 8:45pm at the West Entrance area. Traffic was kinda heavy in that area and there were many poeple around. Most came for the friendly soccer match between Singapore and Australia soccer team. it was half-time break. During this time, I took a few pictures. Honestly all are boring photographs and i didn't bother to use my flashlight. Eventually my pictures turned out with big bokeh and camera-shaky effects, like this one below.

Frankly speaking, never before did I go for our country's national day celebration at the National Stadium. It was my very first time attending to the event at the stadium. As the soccer match getting more higher climax, soccer fans or supporters shouted and screamed and cheered for their home team. Of course there was the Kallang Wave.

After the match, there was a short stadium history and our past soccer glory stories, hosted by Brian Richmond and Glenn Ong. Yes it was telecasted live on Channel 5. Next the short fireworks display which wasn't nice at all, visually.

The party starts, with our native rock band, Kruger, took on the stage. The band kick-started with the first song, Vertigo (original song by U2) with John Molina as the lead vocalist. I wanted to take the band pictures but I was told that I have to pay $10 to enter the soccer field area where the party was held. I decided not to and bid farewell to my friend. As I walked out of the stadium by the west entrance I purposely walked along the perimeter of the stadium towards the east entrance area. Many people were leaving too. I was mingling around just to look out for any photographic opportunities.

There were ice-cream men selling ice-cream and drinks. So I took a couple of shots and though this isn't the best shot, it's merely a snapshot (above) which I think has this strong sense/sight of activities outside the stadium. Thereafter I left for home.

Night @ The National Stadium

Talking about making pictures of our National Stadium, it all started with news of the stadium demolition for a brand new design. The stadium will be officially closed own on 30 June 2007, Saturday. A closing ceremony will be held there to mark this historical event.

News broke out since last September. I went there with a fellow night photographer, Selina. We did make a few pictures but we didn't stay long. It was like our first trial and when I got back my negatives, they turn out great. I told myself I have to go back there to make many more photos of the stadium. And I did. But today I'm not able to upload those photos here as I didn't get them scanned. I will and upload them as soon as it's ready.

It was after about 6 months later, I went back with 2 other photographers who are keen in night photography. (I'll try to feature their work here soon.) I took a roll of Fuiji color negative film, Superia 400 on a Nikon FM10. Yes I did mention before that taking night pictures with color negatives isn't as good as taking it with slide film, be it in 135 or 120 format. But I was willingly to try it out, even without filter lens. Anyway I have in mind of converting all color pictures into black & white. 

So here they are.

Bridge to Stadium

Ticket Booth

Stairs to West Entrance

The West Entrance

I'm Back Again

Well, what can I say? It's been a long long time since I last wrote a blog or update this blog of mine. Almost 7 months. Where was I? You would ask. There are changes to Blogger.com as I have had to re-register by creating a new account in Google's Gmail. Well, I had thought of signing up before, but no action was taken. Procrastination.

Anyway, I'm back again and during all those times, I was still doing night photography. Mainly focusing on my Night Projekts aka Dwell In The Night, as I mentioned before, this is my long-term personal photographic project. It meant a lot to me. I'm in the midst of getting a brand new PC (or Mac if I'm able to pay by instalment), so for the time being, I'm using my office's computer.

A few weeks ago I did some night photography at our National Stadium. News were out that our great old National Stadium will be giving way to a brand new one in 2010 (I think, or later year). It will be officially close down on 30 June 2007 and there'll be a closing ceremony to mark this historical event. Starting from mid-April til end of June, Singapore Sports Council (SSC) is organising tours on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday form 10am - 2pm. SSC, collaborating with the Photographic Society of Singapore (PSS) in organising a photographic contest.

For more information, you can log on here.

I'll post some of those photos I made soon. Do come back and keep a lookout.

Night Street Photography - "It's Over!"

"It's Over!"

© 2006 Martin Liew

"It's Over!"

What you see here is a sequence of photos I took on the same night in Chinatown where families and friends came to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival and taking memorable pictures with their loved ones.

As I was taking photographs of the empty cans collector, I noticed the giant lantern lights on the road divider were turned off. I sensed something is coming up soon, so I rushed down to find out. To my knowledge, the traffic police have arrived to clear the crowd and open the road. Time was 9pm. I saw 2 policemen were asking people to leave and stay by the road side where the buldings and bus-stops are. A few moments later, the lantern lights was on again and now the policemen had a hard time getting people back as most of them were confused and not knowing of the road opening. Some went back to take a few more photos.

As the 2 policemen are Malays, it took them more than 15 mins to get everyone to the safety side, with the hand gestures to symbolize the "show" is over. During this 15 mins, I took the role of a photojournalist and kept shooting this so-called incident.

I stayed in the area for a few more minutes before I headed towards Little India for more night street life photography. The haze was getting denser. I saw this old granny sitting by the stairs with her hand on her forehead. I was quite worried by the sight and felt like going up to her. She appeared to be fine, taking a rest. Perhaps due to the heavy crowd around her which could have caused giddiness in her. I took this photo without looking through the viewfinder becuz I was standing right in front of her, about 1.5 m apart. With estimation, I took the shot in hope of getting a proper exposure and for once, I was lucky.

After the road has opened, the night life in Chinatown goes on. This is the last photo I took, in which 2 cleaners were resting and chatting while people walking by a man on the mobile phone.

In the next series, I'll write on the night life in Little India.

Nikon FM10 • 50mm f/1.8 • Fujifilm Superia 1600

Have a Rest
© 2006 Martin Liew

Night Life
© 2006 Martin Liew

Night Street Photography - Empty Cans Collector

Empty Cans Collector

© 2006 Martin Liew

Empty Cans Collector

6th October, Friday (Lunar Month 15th August) was the Mid-Autumn Festival. As usual every year Chinatown would be beautified with colorful giant lanterns. This called for celebration where families come down to take memorable photographs with their loved ones.

Well due to the recent hazy air pollution caused by the forest fire in Indonesia, the South wind brought us the haze with PSI value up to 130. During the early evening on Friday, it wasn't that bad until the late night which lasted for the whole Saturday. Well anyway nothing would spoilt everyone's mood in celebrating this Festival.

I wasn't really out to take such celebrative pictures in which kids are carrying lanterns nor any of the road-show performances. I was more keen in looking out for something special or any "happening" for the night. I wanted to take pictures that say alot about the people in Chinatown and the people coming to Chinatown. Night life/people in the street, that's what I was looking out for.

After walking through the busy bazaar, I came across this old lady on an overhead bridge where she was stepping on disposed canned drinks. It's quite a common sight where many old folks are searching for empty disposed canned drinks so they can sell them for money. What a good way of recycling these cans, but it's a tough job for them. They have to search through every waste bin they can find and they dun earn much from selling them to the junk yard owners.

While everyone is having fun taking pictures, she is still working hard and I could see she has had collected a huge sack of cans. Perhaps from a hard day's work. I stood there for a few moment, observing her every movement. Suddenly she caught me looking at her and she smiled at me. I smiled back. It occurred to me she really enjoys what she is doing. No resentment, no regrets.

I decided to pick up my camera and take her photos. Then a kid came by and was kind enough to pass her a few cans. She's more happy to accept them. Well I could have taken a few more shots but to the very low light condition in that area, I'm lucky to have these 2 shots properly exposed, though they are alot grainy as I used Fujifilm Superia 1600 rated at 800. It might perhaps due to the photo-lab scanning and editing.

Nikon FM10 • 50mm f/1.8 • Fujifilm Superia 1600

Empty Cans Collector

© 2006 Martin Liew

Michael Busselle remembered

Michael Busselle remembered

Photographer and writer Michael Busselle has died at the age of 70. Having begun work as a photographic assistant he established his own studio in London working on commercial shoots for the advertising and publishing industries. His first book, Master Photography: Take and Make Better Pictures set him along a path in which his name became synonymous with photographic writing. Alongside articles in the photo press, Busselle wrote over 50 books including several volumes on travel and wine.

Despite failing health Michael continued to work into 2006 with his last completed project, A Better Digital Photography Guide to Landscapes: Seas and Skies, published by Argentum earlier this year.

Michael is survived by his wife Patricia and son Julien. To see examples of his work, visit Michael Busselle's website here.

TWO ORCHIDS

Two Orchids #1

© 2006 Martin Liew

Two Orchids

Who says we can only shoot floral photographs in the daytime? Well of course we are making full use of the natural sunlight to make the best floral pictures be it close-up or macro format. What I did here was to make floral photography more creative in a way that I make the pictures in the nighttime, in a dark area of the garden away from stray light sources, particularly from those lamp posts. The pictures featured here were taken on Kodak slide film with my favorite manual SLR, Nikon FM10, handheld.

Well, you might ask how did I do it handheld when the surrounding area was so dark? It definitely requires a longer exposure timing and a sturdy tripod is a must here, you might say. Yes, you are correct on that point. Didn't I mention it was a night of light painting or should I put it more appropriately, color-splashing?

For the setup, I used 2 flash units each mounted on a normal tripod. I placed each on the left and right side of the Orchids. The left side flash head was fitted with a DIY blue-colored gel and the other with a DIY magenta-colored gel. With the help of a wireless flash transmitter and 2 receivers, I was able to take such pictures handheld. Though this shot was quite under-exposed, I still like the blending of the color effect. I could have set the flashes on full power or used a wider aperture, say f/5.6 or f/4 with a shutter speed of 1/125sec.

The picture below was taken with a different color gel i.e. replacing the blue with red but the results aren't that good.

Two Orchids #2

© 2006 Martin Liew