Night photography in Spokane, an affliction which is contagious

Last night I left my cameras in the office, and met with a number of Spokane photographers, for a series of exercises I had set up for them. Members of the Photographic Society of America, Spokane Camera Club, Inland Outlook Photo Club, and even some non affiliated photographers. I led the group to the location for exercise 1, and for the next two hours, I totally enjoyed this experience.

The second location was the same location I had shot the night before, and the group immediately recognized that this sculpture (Centennial Sculpture) that was floating in the Spokane River, was actually moving constantly. So now the group needed to adjust for motion in the foreground, as well as retain the background, which was not moving. After about twenty minutes, I started painting the sculpture with a red filter on my Big Max flashlight. I switched it to blue after about 15 minutes, and then one of the other photographers took out his Big Max so we could hit the sculpture with red and blue at the same time. Wow, some of these folks, "nailed it." Although I was not able to see the final products, I could see in their on camera screens, that the red and blue lights really got them some great shots. Having a second person to handle some of this activity such as the Big Max, was evident to me last night. Doing it by myself sure has it's limitations.

All in all, hanging out with these photographers was nothing but "fun." Using some rear screen synch exercises was good for all of them, and timing the rear curtain synch shots is sometimes hard to get "just right." It takes a little doing, but I think that the group pushed the envelope just fine.

I'll get another evening set up for a couple of weeks from now. Hopefully we can give Riverfront Park a rest, and I am thinking that the next location for the night shooting photographers might be Hillyard. All of the new streetlights are finally going in, and then I can gather them at the Hillyard Skatepark, for a somewhat complicated effort at painting with color. Should be fun, no matter what.

I have confirmed my access to the Clocktower in Riverfront Park, in March. I'm going up after a sunset, to shoot from the top of the tower, as it gets darker and darker. Should not only be fun, but there might be some fab shots of the RFP area, downtown, and of course the automobile light trails on Spokane Falls Blvd, and Washington/Stevens.

Today I added one more version of a shoot I did this week, at the "Centennial Sculpture." I added one to the website yesterday, and today I added a script to load a second image in which the lights used on the Big Max were amber lenses. A blend of three images, akin to an HDR approach, the second image was taken about thirty minutes before the red one was.

If any other Spokane photographers want to join up with the "night shooter group," you are most welcome. Send me your contact info and I'll add you to the list of photogs getting all of the location and time information. Just get ready for some fun, and maybe some outside the box photography.

JDM