Happy Birthday to NPAN. Thank You for an Amazing First Year!

All five of us from National Parks at Night say, "Thank you." It's been only one year since this beautiful dream started, and we're so grateful for those who believe in us.

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A PEEK ON THE INSIDE

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You may not know it from the surface, but NPAN (the acronym we use to refer to our business on the inside), is not just a workshop program. It's a living, blossoming dream that the five of us nurture and grow.

Seriously. 

We really love education, and night photography, and amazing national parks. But what we're really reaching to do is build amazing experiences for people centered around this quiet, nocturnal craft. 

I cannot count the number of times we've had passionate discussions about our workshop attendees, what would make them happy, and leveling up those ideas through spirited debate, critique and a lot of asking, "What if?"

It's all couched in mutual respect and a really egalitarian approach where we all take responsibility for growing this program together. More simply stated, we're all very involved in the business, as well as running our own workshops. There is no coasting for any of us; no passing of any bucks. We all are in this program to make something extraordinary happen every time.

And we know it sets us apart. Not from other workshop programs (we have many friends who also run their own programs and love them!), but from many businesses. We eschew hierarchy in favor of cooperation and respectful discourse. We trust each other and hold each other responsible to be true to those who choose to take an adventure with us. We know the real product is for our customers (who really become our friends) to have a positive and meaningful experience.

Why mention any of this to you? Well, because I am just so proud that these other four people chose to sign on to create National Parks at Night. And that they continue to be passionate about it, day after day, week after week, and month after month.

OH, THE PLACES, WE'VE BEEN

In our first year, individually and as a team we presented at PhotoPlus Expo, B&H and Lindblad Expeditions' OPTIC Imaging Conference, the new and exciting Out of New York Conference, numerous local camera clubs, Photoville, PSA, Maine Media Workshops, NECCC, RMSP, the New York Adventure Club, the B&H Event Space, the Photographic Resource Center in Boston, the Sierra Club, Photo Field Trip, local Meetup Groups and more. We love participating in local community events and hope to see you soon in your area during our second year.  

GRATITUDE FOR OUR SPONSORS

We have the trust and support of some amazing companies that dig night photography and superior customer service as much as we do. Thank you to them for partnering up with us. Here is a little about each of them: 

Gear is essential to the practice of night photography, and we choose our sponsor/partners with great care. It's a relationship that is valuable to the instructors, the workshop attendees and the brands. Everyone has to find value in it. 

Thanks to our sponsors, we can also offer our customers some great opportunities, many of which you discover during a workshop.

IF YOU CAN'T COME ALONG, JOIN US ONLINE:

And last, but not least, the crazy/amazing experience that was Night Photography Week on CreativeLive was bonkers in a very positive way. Special thanks to Kathy, Chelsea and Arlene for crafting a week-long experience that brings the night to a worldwide audience. 

LOOKING AT YEAR TWO

Here we are, one year later, seeing our dreams realized. All the 2016 workshops were enjoyed at full capacity. And the recently announced 2017 workshops are nearly full, too. The overwhelming support from our true believers makes us try even harder. So, we're talking about some other cool things that you'll know about soon if you're on our mailing list (hint, hint!).

Expect new ideas and offerings from NPAN in the coming year. We're growing our dreams, expanding our horizons.

This is really just getting started. We're both literally and figuratively exploring new ideas as you read this. Thanks again for supporting us, and for coming along on this dream to make beautiful nighttime photography in national parks in a community of like-minded people.

Matt

p.s. — I also want to express direct thanks to Gabe, Chris, Lance and Tim for being amazing human beings. It's a real pleasure to make this journey with you. You inspire me!

See more about Matt's photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Muses from the Past—the Night Photos of Burdekin and Morrison

In my last post, I wrote about the passing of my mentor, Steve Harper. The way that I teach my own classes and workshops has been greatly influenced by the time I spent studying with Steve in the late 1980s and early 90s. One of the ways that his influence comes through is that I usually begin my workshops with a (not always) brief overview of the history of night photography.

Steve felt strongly that having an appreciation of the challenges faced by the pioneers of night photography—and at least a passing familiarity with some early nocturnal imagery—was not only interesting, but was also an important aspect of his students developing their own “Night Vision.”

I agree, and I also think that studying the work of others is a great way to learn, and to advance one’s own photography. Analyzing and perhaps even attempting to recreate classic photographs can be an effective way to progress in one’s own work. Even the renowned English photographer Bill Brandt copied some night images by his contemporary Brassai—going so far as to use his own wife as a stand-in for the prostitute in one of Brassai’s photographs!

London Night, by Harold Burdekin and John Morrison

The key is not to simply mimic someone else’s great ideas, but to take the knowledge that comes with reproducing the work of masters and move on to create something new. With this in mind, I’m beginning a series of articles highlighting some of my favorite night photographers. Let’s begin by looking at the work of Harold Burdekin and John Morrison.

Unfortunately, little is known about the lives of Burdekin and Morrison. In 1934 they published a remarkable book of night photographs of London that was at least in part inspired by Brassai, who had published the first book ever of night photographs, Paris de Nuit, just the year before. In London Night, Burdekin is credited as the photographer, and Morrison as the assistant and author of the accompanying essay.

“Study Burdekin and Morrison’s photographs ... see what you can emulate in their execution.”

Burdekin was killed by a falling bomb in London in 1944. Another book of his photographs was published posthumously in 1948. As for Morrison, he was never heard from again. That’s about all there is, except of course for the photographs.

London Night is a beautiful book, sumptuously printed in blue photogravure— the same process that was used for Brassai’s book. In Morrison’s introductory essay to London Night, he references Paul Morand’s opening essay to Brassai’s Paris de Nuit, agreeing with Morand that night is more than the opposite of day. Morrison rhapsodizes throughout his essay about the mysterious and romantic qualities of the night, and it is a fine introduction to the photographs, which also present a highly romanticized and soulful view of pre-war London.

Despite remaining largely unknown, the art of London Night represents one of the finest collections of night photographs of the 20th century. The images are technically perfect, and the compositions are balanced and hold the viewer’s attention, leading the viewer into this dreamy world of shadows.

The photographs convey a dark and lonely city, quiet and seemingly devoid of life. All of the images were made on foggy nights, the fog blending with the soot and smoke from a thousand coal fires in the city. The empty streets are thick with atmosphere, timeless, full of mystery and the unknown. It’s not hard to imagine Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty locked in their game of cat and mouse, slipping through the streets of these photographs. In short, the images capture the sentiments that are nearly universal to night photographers.

I encourage you to study Burdekin and Morrison's photographs and see what you can articulate about their effectiveness, see what you can emulate in their execution. Perhaps venture into your own city or town, and experiment to try to recreate what you like most about their style. The experience will at the very least be fun, and may even spark some changes in how you pursue seizing the night.

Lance Keimig has been photographing at night for 30 years, and is the author of Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark (Focal Press, 2015). Learn more about his images and workshops at www.thenightskye.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Staying Invisible While Light Painting—The Art of not Being Seen

One of the first questions I am asked about light painting is, “Why don’t you show up in the picture?” It’s a great question.

As photographers, we’re accustomed to being very mindful of what’s in our frame. We’re constantly trying to keep our hands, feet, tripod legs and tourists out of the shot. The act of painting our scene with light, however, often requires us to not only walk through, but sometimes stay within the frame for long periods of time. So why don’t we show up?

Long Exposures

The main reason is time. Exposures for light painting are often so long that we just don’t register in the exposure. Let’s take an example of a shot made on a full moon night. If a shutter speed of 2 minutes is required to produce a well-illuminated scene, you would need to stand in the composition for 2 minutes to be properly exposed. If you stood there for 1 minute, you would be a ghost—meaning that you would look transparent. For half of the exposure you are there, for the other half, the sensor is seeing what’s behind you.

Now let’s take it down a bit. If you stood there for 30 seconds you would be even more transparent. And if you stood still in the frame for 8 seconds or 4 seconds, you wouldn’t even register. You are just not in the frame long enough to make an impression. Couple this with the fact that you almost never stand still while light painting, and you can see why you are not seen!

For this image I stood in front of the windows and painted back at the camera to create the shadows on the ground. The overall exposure was 3 minutes. The 20 seconds that I stood in front of the windows was not enough time for me to register on the exposure.

In order to be visible in this scene, I had to stand in the doorway for the entire length of the exposure. If I stood there for only half of the exposure, I would have been a ghost.

The Caveat

In the above scenario of the full moon we are assuming that you are not being illuminated by anything but the full moon. But, if you introduce a light source brighter than the ambient light (your flashlight, for instance), it will be “seen” in the scene.

This is exactly why and how our subjects become brighter than the background. We paint them with a light source brighter than the ambient light—in this case, the moon. So if you accidentally paint yourself with the flashlight, you too will register on the sensor!

Sometimes, even the light bouncing back from the object you are painting can somewhat illuminate you. In the image below you can see that I am ghosted in the lower center of the frame. Although this was a completely dark mausoleum, the walls were close enough that as I painted, they bounced enough light back onto me to make me partially visible.

Bounced light from the walls I was painting was enough to illuminate me.

Solutions to Being Seen

The first step you can take to hide yourself from the camera is to wear black clothing. Black fabrics will absorb most of the stray light and ensure that you remain invisible. Steer away from lighter colored pants such as khakis, as they will reflect more light.

Also, remember that the brighter the scene is, the shorter the exposure will be. Shorter exposures will require that you don’t stay in one place for too long. Longer exposures are much more forgiving, allowing you to linger a little longer in spots.

And don’t paint yourself with the flashlight! Anything the flashlight touches will show up in the scene. Keep it pointed at the subject, not yourself!

Another similar issue when light painting is when your flashlight or other light-painting tool shows up in the image. Sometimes you may want this effect—such as when writing with light—but when it’s an accident it can ruin your photos.

In this image, while light painting the gravestones, my flashlight slipped out from behind my body and the camera was able to “see” it.

To prevent this, think of it as hiding the flashlight from your camera. The simplest way to do this is to keep your body between the flashlight and the camera. This can be difficult, especially while you are trying to paint something from the side, as seen in the image above. This flashlight angle produces beautiful texture on the subject but you must be careful to always hide the tip of the flashlight. If your camera sees the tip (where the bulb is), the light source itself will be recorded.

Keep your body between your flashlight and camera.

Another method of hiding your flashlight from the camera is to use a rubber snoot. Fit one onto the front of the light, and it will hide the bulbs while still letting the light flow into the scene where you want it. I find the Universal Connector by Light Painting Brushes works really well as a snoot (in addition to its intended use for connecting brushes to your flashlight). A less elegant DIY solution is to cover a toilet paper tube inside and out with black gaffers tape.

These Universal Connectors by Light Painting Brushes are designed to hold light-painting tools, but also can serve as excellent snoots to mask the tip of your flashlight.

With these techniques and a little practice, you’ll be effectively invisible to the camera. Fortunately in the digital age we can look at the LCD to see if we’ve shown ourselves, quickly learn from our mistakes, and get the shot right the next time.

For more information about the equipment mentioned in this post, see the Our Gear page.

Learn more techniques from Tim Cooper’s book The Magic of Light Painting, available from Peachpit.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Night Photography Week Recap: Our Adventures With CreativeLive

Last week we had the most amazing experience. Well, more accurately, the experience lasted the entire summer.

A few months ago CreativeLive brought the entire National Parks at Night team on board to design a series of video courses about night photography—a long, challenging and rewarding project that culminated with "Night Photography Week" on September 12-16.

I can speak for all of us in saying that the experience of working with CreativeLive was remarkable. Their team is so professional, talented and capable that we all felt an immediate sense of ease—from Day 1 we could sense that the process would be smooth, and that we could focus on producing the best content we could imagine to deliver to our followers and theirs.

The production teams were true collaborators, offering an honest listen-and-feedback loop that everyone involved thrived on. And while their plans were honed to a T, they were adept at quickly adapting to avert or make the best of obstacles. (Let's just say that only two of the five of us did not have to deal with rain or fog during scheduled night-sky shoots.)

We had a lot of fun during the project as well, including a rooftop night portrait shoot with a great view of the Space Needle, camping at the coast of Olympic National Park during the Perseid meteor shower, and catching sight of an amazing fireball streaming across the skies of the Eastern Sierra.

What's next?

Now that our CreativeLive course is grown up and living its own life, we're not just sitting back and watching. We're ready to get back into the field with our fall workshops in Death Valley and Arches national parks, and with our 2017 itinerary that we announced last week.

If you haven't signed up for our Night Photography CreativeLive course yet, we encourage you to join the over 51,000 photographers who already have.

The course features:

• 82 segments that total nearly 18 hours of instruction and discussion.
• Bonus materials that include information on camera and light-painting gear, lists of apps to help with location scouting and night photography, and articles about topics such as camera settings and the 400 Rule.
• And a photo challenge that will be wrapped up with a live-streamed critique on CreativeLive on October 25! Send your very best night-photography images to www.creativelive.com/courses/night-photography-critique for a chance to receive feedback in this free live broadcast.

If you have any questions or feedback about the course, we'd love to hear from you, either in the Comments section below, via email or on our Facebook page.

Once again, thank you for all of your collective support, and for your mutual interest in this dynamic niche of photography. Seize the night!

Chris Nicholson is the author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Our 2017 Workshops: Introducing the Passport Series and Adventure Series

We are very excited to bring this news to you, as it's been in the works for months: We are, here and now, announcing our 2017 workshop season! And not only are we announcing new workshops, we are also announcing an entire new series of them.

As we dreamed our way into 2017, we all agreed that our vision for National Parks at Night was evolving with our passionate family of attendees, and we all felt we were ready to offer some new opportunities. So we will forthwith offer two sets of workshops: our Passport Series and our Adventure Series. 

Passport Series

Our Passport Series workshops are what our lucky first-year attendees have enjoyed so far: a deep dive into the night skies of a national park, plus location scouting tutorials, lectures and image critiques. Plus a whole lot of camaraderie!

Here are the 2017 Passport Series Workshops:

• April 30-May 5, 2017: Joshua Tree National Park, California
• May 7-12, 2017: Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
• Aug 10-14, 2017: Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
• Sep 17-22, 2017: Olympic National Park, Washington
• TBA 2017: A Pretty Unique National Park (details being finalized)

Adventure Series

Entirely new for this year will be our Adventure Series Workshops, which are forays into national monuments, private lands near national parks, and more to be announced! These workshops will generally be shorter in duration than our Passport Series, and we will spend less time in the classroom and more time in the field having adventures!

We will be announcing the complete Adventure Series this fall (including one in a [hint, hint] very new National Park Service unit). But to whet your appetite, we are making two early announcements for workshops you can register for now.

2017 Adventure Series Workshops:

• June 21-25, 2017: Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah
• Aug 17-22, 2017: Centennial Valley, J Bar L Ranch & 2017 Solar Eclipse Workshop

Here is a sample of the places you can go with us in 2017:

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We are very eager to see you in the dark in 2017! Don't miss your chance to join us—register today!

See more about Matt's photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT