Oct 31 2009
Lighting Up the Things That Go Bump in the Night
It’s a dark and stormy day. The wind shrieks, rain lashes against the window panes, and gloom overcomes the land. But later, as murky dusk gives way to the sooty darkness, the empty streets will become busy with ghouls, goblins, and ghosts. It’s Halloween! Trick or treat!
I’ve been doing a lot of nighttime photography lately, experimenting with new techniques and perfecting those I already know, and the spookiness of this day seems a good time to explore darkness. Besides, it’s fun to see the world with a new perspective, when most of the surroundings are dark and the only sources of brightness are a streetlight, a flashlight, or the taillights of a passing car. Here’s what it looked like last night as the gales blew leaves and rain down the street:
The streetlight made the raindrops on the wires sparkle.
Tonight won’t be much different, except kids in costumes will be carrying their bags from door to door, ghosting through the darkness with their light sticks. Light painting with light sticks is a favorite diversion for campers and other creatures of the night, and I tried my hand at it with a Mini-Maglite. My attempt to draw a bicycle wasn’t a great success, though it might pass as a form of modern art:
My drawing of a pumpkin on the window with the streetlight in the background was a little better:
The thing is, once I began studying the effect of bright lights in the dark, I started to see all manner of ordinary objects in a new, ahem, light, like my computer’s power cord, for instance:
Then there’s my little camping lantern:
The camera makes the white light cool blue. In keeping with the creepy nature of today, I took this photo of a spider next to the bog’s nightlight:
She’s quite happy hanging around waiting for someone to come by for dinner. Yes, she is a she. I can tell by her pedipalps. Wait! What’s that? A ghoul screaming in the dark?
Maybe I should crawl under the covers and read by the light of my headlamp until morning dawns. I’m at the part about Deadman’s Valley now…
Yes, I think that’s the thing to do. See you in November…
