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As mentioned in a previous post, I want to start working on my photography a little bit more this fall, specifically more black and white with my big cameras. I've come to like taking photos at night and have had some success. It presents some unique problems - the mosquitoes in the summer, stray light sources from cars passing by and difficulty determining the correct exposure time - but the rewards are great.

Great black and white photos are determined by three things, to put it in extremely simple terms: composition, recording all the detail on the negative and then printing the photograph. Composition is often what makes the difference between a great photograph and just a snapshot. Some of it is as simple as making sure the telephone pole isn't growing out of the subject's head but usually it's something more, much more, in fact. That's why when you see a picture of a pepper, you think of Edward Weston and not me. This is without a doubt my weakest area. A true artist always seems to see things slightly differently than the average Joe like me.

Recording the detail on the negative often times presents a real challenge and night time photography is one of them. The difference between the lightest and darkest areas of the subject is usually more than the range of the film is able to capture. There are things you can do to over come this and that's one of the reasons I find low light photography interesting. Figuring out what to do when you're making the exposure and when you're developing the film is the real challenge.

Printing the actual photograph is another matter all together. I've become fairly competent in printing my images. I've still got a long way to go but this end of the photography is more of a mechanical process as opposed to the artistic visualization of making the shot in the first place. This is more up my alley and one of the reasons I prefer working in black and white instead of digital. I find darkroom work infinitely more enjoyable than Photoshop.

All of this brings me to the title of the post and the photo. The Missus bought a new scanner/copier/printer and in figuring out how to use the thing I scanned in the photo, thinking that would be a good test of the scanners ability. The photo was taken in Ely, Minnesota across the street from the Ely Grand Lodge. I took it with an old folding camera propped up on the parking lot while swatting lots of mosquitoes. It was somewhat of a challenge to print but because I actually got a good negative to work from, I was able to get a decent photograph. In fact, I would say this is probably my best night time shot. Now that I have a scanner, I'll be able to bring some things into the blog that you might find interesting. You'll have to be the judge of that but that's why they have a comment function.