Another Great Neon Sign is Gone

Some of you are probably familiar with the shot above--I've used it in at least one of my books and variations of it have been shown on this blog. I also have the shot in my Flickr Photostream and the other day I got a message from Flickr member Rick Ibsen that the sign was destroyed in a winter storm in March of 2010. The motel apparently switched hands around that time also and the sign isn't going to be replaced. Below is a shot of the sign after the storm shot by Rick (for more of Rick's great photos, check out Rick Ibsen's Flickr Photostream).

I always tell my students and readers: when you see something great, shoot it--you never know if you'll get the chance again. It's easy to drive by something neat and say, "Oh, I'll come back and shoot that another time." But fate does not always cooperate so nicely. It will only take five minutes out of your life to shoot something interesting and you'll always be happy that you did--and that goes for old friends, favorite trees and the pear ripening in the morning sun on the windowsill, as well.  Let your camera be your instant journaling machine.

By the way, speaking of old friends (!), if you're looking for some cool books to buy for one of them, check out my photo book suggestions on my main site.

Light Up Your Night Shots with Neon Signs

I've always thought that neon signs are one of the most underrated forms of public art. Sadly, I think it's also something of a dying art because you see fewer and fewer really interesting signs. Not only are the classic old signs disappearing as businesses and neighborhoods change, but fewer new signs are replacing them--most businesses just slap up an uninspired fluorescent sign. That's part of the reason that finding a really great neon sign is so exciting and why it's worth stopping for a few minutes to honor it with a photograph.

Photographing neon is really simple. If the sign is fairly bright and you're close to it, there's probably enough light to shoot at a relatively slow ISO of 100 or 200. I shot the sign here (in Norwalk, Connecticut) at ISO 200 with a Nikon D70s and the exposure was 1/25 second at f/8. If you're using a tripod (and you should), put the camera in aperture-priority mode and select a middle aperture (like f/8) to get the optimum sharpness from your lens. If the sign is big and depth of field is a concern, select a smaller aperture, perhaps f/11 or even f/16. The camera will then select the correct shutter speed for you. If you have image-stabilization you might not even need a tripod (or alternately you can bump up the ISO but you will gain some digital noise if you do).

The size of the aperture has some effect on the bleeding or "halation" of the neon glow, so take a few test exposures and see if you like the glow. As you change apertures you will probably see the spread of the glow change. There's no right or wrong, of course, it's just a matter of taste--just something to be aware of while you're shooting. If you want to take in some of the background of the sign (the metal structure, if there is one), then you can increase the exposure by a stop of so. In the case of this great motel sign I wanted the colors to really pop so I exposed for the tubes and let the sign fixture itself go black. I leave the white balance in auto, by the way, and it seems to do just fine.

As I said, classic neon signs like this one are getting harder and harder to find and shooting a series of photos of them makes a great summer project. Any time that you have a few hours in the evening, just grab your camera and tripod and get a cup of coffee to go and take a ride through the older sections of town. You might even consider putting together a small exhibit at your local library or town hall to show off your neon treasures.

Meet Night Photography Wizard Troy Paiva

A few weeks ago I was poking around the web one evening and I came across a site called Lost America: Night Photography of the Abandoned West that features hundreds of extraordinary night photos by photographer Troy Paiva. Paiva has spent more than 20 years photographing a fascinating assortment of abandoned and forgotten remnants of the American West--junk yards, ghost towns, old signs, forgotten and "immobile" mobile home parks and deserted amusement parks (among other subjects). The photos are simply amazing.

Paiva began exploring these vestiges of the West back in the 1970's and began photographing them in 1989 and has put together a simply amazing document of these rarely-examined objects and places. But more than just mere documents, he has used his wonderfully creative and inventive photo skills to transform them into brilliantly colorful images that are both cheerfully whimsical and somewhat forlorn feeling at the same time. His site contains hundreds of images and he has also produced two monographs: Lost America (Motorbooks International; out of print but available used) and Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration (Chronicle Books).

He uses a technique called light painting that involves using long exposures (often several minutes or longer) and then selectively coloring different portions of the scenes using both flashlights and accessory electronic flash units. The lights are colored with theatrical gels and he frequently uses several different color gels within a single shot to create striking color contrasts. Because the exposures are so long many of the shots also capture ghostly-looking regions of the ambient light and even trails of star light. Interestingly, Paiva works mainly on moonlight nights (almost always within four nights of the full moon) so that he can take advantage of bright skies.

The light-painting techniques that he uses took years to develop and since he began shooting in the film days there were, of course, no LCD panels or histograms to check--everything was an experiment. You can read in detail about his night photo techniques on his site (and how refreshing that he shares his techniques and tips so openly). Just reading about some of the dangers and obstacles that he faces in getting his shots (spiders, snakes, scropions, squatters), however, is more than enough to drive away the faint hearted. He's a good writer too, so you'll get a kick out of reading the details of how he makes his shots.

If ever you've driven past an old auto graveyard or a washed-up amusement park and thought they might make interesting photo subjects, then you have to see how far Troy Paiva has taken those ideas. With a bit of imagination and lots of long hours in often dangerous settings, he has managed to record a beautiful visual history of locales and objects that most of us will never see--many of which have since been bulldozed or buried and, were it not for these photos, would be lost to time. I found myself inspired to look at night photography in a new light and now have an even greater appreciation for the beauty of our abandoned past and I think you will too.

If you want to see a few thousand more of Paiva's photos, visit his Flickr photostream.