Long Exposures in St Joseph - Roll 136

The Monday before Thanksgiving brought my weekend of shooting in Berrien Springs to a close, but not, unfortunately, the end of Malia's sickness. Although we were missing each other a lot, she was still testing positive and feeling bad, so I continued to stay away during the first part of that week. On Wednesday night, therefore, feeling bored and wanting to get out of the house, I chose to load up my camera with a roll of 220 film and head to St Joseph, where I wanted to try out more night photography. In particular, my goal was to resolve a technical issue I'd been experiencing, where bright light sources were "streaking," as can be seen here. While I don't always mind that effect, it's not ideal for every situation, and I wanted to see if I could utilize the solution I had figured out recently to take some nice photos of the downtown area, which was already decorated for the holidays. Out of 20 potential photos I only took a few that I like, but I did succeed in addressing that issue, so I consider that night a win!

After discussing the issue with my coworkers at Gene's for a while, we eventually came to the conclusion that my camera's long exposure mode was to blame. Most cameras achieve a long exposure in Bulb ("B") mode, where the shutter is opened and closed by pressing the cable release. In contrast, Fuji rangefinders have a Time ("T") mode, in which the shutter is opened by the cable release, but then closed by manipulating some other aspect of the camera (changing the shutter speed or aperture, winding the film to the next frame, etc). This feel nonsensical to me, compared to the ease of Bulb mode, and is one of the only things I dislike about my camera. Before I really understood the Time mode I had been closing the shutter by winding the film to the next frame, and in that moment, the brightest lights were dragging across the film and leaving the streaks I was seeing. The easy solution to this would be to quickly put the lens cap on before winding the film; the exposure would effectively end once the cap is covering the lens, and no streaking should occur. My plan worked exactly the way I hoped it would—in my first successful photo of the night, neither the streetlight nor the Christmas lights on the tree have any lines dragging off of them, instead simply giving off a warm glow that suits the scene well. I had taken photos of this building with the orange lines before, but this is the best of all of them, especially due to the third orange line at the bottom, a happy accident resulting from a car driving by during the exposure time. The symbolic meaning of the photo is not lost on me either, the way that the lights create a sense of safety on the empty street, staving off the darkness that is bound to only the top strip of sky. I have nothing to complain about in this photo, and so I consider this a strong start to my shooting for that evening!

Night—Pleasant Street, St Joseph, Michigan.

I have struggled in the past to incorporate Christmas decorations in my photos; I can't seem to either find compelling ones to shoot or compose a good scene around them when I do find something interesting. I think it has something to do with the fact that these types of decorations are obvious subjects, and they require more work to make them actually fit into my style. I was helped, in this photo, by the decoration fitting into a category that I am more comfortable with, that of American kitsch. The Santa Claus in the window shown here has a vintage quality to him—I wouldn't be surprised to see him pop up in a window during A Christmas Story, or maybe the list of pizza toppings he carries could be the subject of a joke in Home Alone. The retro aesthetic appeals to me more than modern decorations do, and I appreciate the contrast between the statue and the other elements in the frame, including the digital sign and the mural on the back wall, all of which scream 21st century. The progression of green—red—blue throughout the shot is pleasing as well, and like the first photo I avoided light streaking to the benefit of the subject. Window compositions like this have been hard for me to compose well in the past, but I am happy that all the variables fell into place to create a strong image here.

Nardo’s Pizza, St Joseph, Michigan.

I've said that my goal in this shoot was to avoid light streaking as much as possible. Evidently I forgot to do that and use the lens cap in this shot, as a beam of pure white is visible coming off of the brightest light source in the photo. I'm not terribly upset though, as I don't think the overall image is ruined by that streak. The color profile here is striking, shades of blue in the sky and parking lot contrasting with the yellowish sand and windows in the back. The almost-blown highlights turn the parking lot into a silver sheet of ice or snow, recalling how such a place might look like during the dead of winter. And my composition is solid as well; by placing the main tree in the foreground it creates divisions throughout the frame, placing the streetlight, lit building, and empty parking lot into their own sections. This photo has taken time to grow on me—if I had written about the roll last year, I wouldn't have included this one. But looking at it now I can appreciate it more, streak or no streak, for its good qualities.

Silver Beach, St Joseph, Michigan.

In one of my recent blogs I stated that I don't just approach an area looking for its most iconic sights, but try to consider an environment for all its potentialities, the popular and the unknown. St Joseph is a location known for one specific thing, the St Joseph Lighthouse. A beautiful red and white building situated out on a long pier, I don't blame people for having a continued interest in it; it is absolutely a great subject for photos, and I've taken plenty here myself! And I did attempt a couple shots of it on this trip, but even a 30 minute exposure wasn't enough to capture any detail worth mentioning in the darkness. However, I did photograph a group of trees in the dunes near the lighthouse, and this image is probably my favorite of the night on account of its uniqueness in my visual canon. Barely lit by the streetlights seen in the last shot, I made a ten minute exposure of the scene, letting just enough light in to work with during the editing stage. The resultant photo is stunning, with the same color palette of yellow and blue as before, but now enhanced by the simplicity of the composition. Branches and footprints are about all that is visible, along with a smattering of leaves and a surprisingly bright sky. It almost feels otherworldly, a dream come to life. Certainly the night didn't really look quite like this when I set my camera up and opened the shutter! This photo pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could do with night photography further than any other image made that night, and once again I am thankful that I got to have that experience. I started the night perfecting my technique for things I had already done; by the end I had made something totally different and strong, leaving more threads of exploration open to me for the future. The next day I was able to return to Malia, but I feel that I used the time alone the best way I could have, making the best out of our circumstances and growing as an artist!

Untitled.