Thursday, October 30, 2008

Midnight Stroll

Lucy Maud Montgomery once said, "Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star." This time, I think she used streetlamps, instead.

Just another late night walk on Meridian at Mission, behind the Alexander Building.

19 comments:

Webradio said...

Hello Laurie !

This street, in B&W, seems very strange... "Coupe-gorges"...

Tanya Breese said...

Very nice, the lights shine like diamonds.

Halcyon said...

Another great night shot. May I ask what kind of camera do you use?

Yakpate said...

Why does one person walking down an empty street always make me feel like I need to turn up the thermostat?

This is a great shot of South Pas Noir... not even the hand-written event board dispels the lonely vibe... and the certainty that there is a story here, waiting to tell itself.

But this IS South Pas... so maybe the guy has just run out to buy milk for the baby.

Anonymous said...

Don't you all know that the streets of SoPas roll up around 9pm? It's the pull of a teeny small town. Where the cops used to roust kids out of the Straw Hat Pizza at 10pm sharp if they didn't have parents with them. Where ANYONE out past 10pm is a bit suspicious.

This B&W photo makes SoPas appear dangerous. Which, though there IS crime, not like this would suggest---a dark and scary place, especially not at Meridian and Mission.

I LOVE the photo, it gives a different light and feel to the city. I love the B&W's, it pears down the colors of the city (the incredible draw of the city) and give a raw vision.

Profile Not Available said...

Excellent night shot, Laurie! I have been trying to do more of thees too...aren't they fun? I have to say that you get much better results! I love the star/streetlight!

Anonymous said...

I've never seen the sting. Maybe I should rent it at the video store on the first floor. Do you like the nearby sculpture "walking Man"?
This overly long election process is torturous. Sooon

Virginia said...

Girl, you really are a night owl aren't you!! Great one and I love that quote. V

Cafe Observer said...

Are those sandwich boards legal in the South of Pas? I know in Pasadena they are technically a criminal act, despite the fact we see them almost as much as the birds & the bees, or the palms.

Laurie, if you've been carving up any politicians or other pumpkins, you might wanna post a pic of them on Halloween. That would be a pretty scary theme for the citizenry, even in these times. Still, we shepherds don't scare easily.

Knoxville Girl said...

twinkle twinkle little light - you chose well with black & white.
yeah, not anywhere near LMM, but said sincerely nonetheless.

Anonymous said...

So much, so many implications...

black & white
near the tracks
the Metamorphosis Theatre Company sign
Anne of Green Gables?

That's so Kafka

There's no Welk.

Ken Mac said...

ah, yes, summer! I miss it already...

Petrea Burchard said...

Lovely nighttime pic.

Jane Hards Photography said...

I insist you only shoot in mono, and only by night. Not sure how this will sit with your social life and family, but image wise it works for me. My usual classic/retro/cinematic/noir come straight to mind.

Dixie Jane said...

Another nighttime b&w by Laurie with lights that always seem to twinkle and suggest a story. As for the lone man, I have my theory. You see, he was at Laurie and Jon's anniversary party. He had his eye on some girl who never looked his way. Also he wanted another piece of cake that never came his way either. So he left in a huff. Ok Yak?

Diederick Wijmans said...

This is a great photo with a lot of atmosphere to it. Beautiful!!

Anonymous said...

I love your interpretion, Dixie Jane.

I can't come up with anything for this one except that in our neighborhood, which is not South Pas., the neighborhood watch would all be on alert.
Maybe the spookiness of Halloween is getting to me??? But then, there is the esoteric interpretation of Halloween. And that is: uh-humm -the inner light SHINETH ( got the "eth"in there?) from within.

Laurie Allee said...

Hi everyone,

My goodness, the season is upon all of you. Here I posted a lovely little nighttime stroll and many of you went for the spooky -- from Kafka to crime!

I love you people!

Halcyon, I shoot with basically a souped-up point and shoot. It's a Fujifilm E900 from several years ago. Great auto settings, but you can also adjust all the manual settings yourself, too. I've been impressed with the lenses on all the Fuji cameras. And I can't believe the night images I can get from this thing. I also love that it's small enough to keep in my purse and not scare people when I pull it out for street photography. I've played with some pretty fancy digital cameras but I'm consistently impressed with what I can squeeze out of this one. I only ever use basic editing software to adjust brightness/contrast and color saturation. I never use photoshop. When I used to take film pictures with my 35mm Canon SLR, I never got night images like these. I think digital is amazing that way -- and certainly you can get some great shots with relatively inexpensive cameras. (See Hope over at Knoxville Daily Photo to see magic rendered with a little Nikon Coolpix!)

Kelly, I can't wait to see more of your night shots!

Knoxville Girl, thanks for the rhyme!

Babooshka, my good friend across the pond, I always think of you now when I shoot monochrome! Thanks for the kind words -- and excuse to keep bringing more black and white...

Dixie (mom!) your story is great. Too bad we didn't actually have an anniversary party! (Maybe that's why this guy is rushing off!)

Shanna, it shineth indeed.

Thanks for all the great comments, people. Til tomorrow.

Judy Williams said...

Oh I love the Montgomery quote. What a charming thing to say! I'm particularly fond of long night exposures where the streaming light from the lamp post creates an almost firefly glow. I love the man's legs in mid stride as well. Terrific, as always.