Charles T. Low Photography
Blog
Darkness
An Illumination
Photographers — all visual artists — need light.
We don't necessarily need very much — just some. I photograph in all quantities (and qualities) of light, and, as I have discussed previously in this space, am particularly drawn to darkness. The camera can brighten it up (if we want it to) — simply leave the shutter open longer! I usually prefer to leave it dark, closer to how it looked to the eye. But it's also the quality of near-darkness which appeals to me — the soft gradations of tonality, and the richness of colour.
Others of my recent darkness
blogs:
Yes, this is clearly a theme, if not a style. I don't let it confine me, while welcoming its recurrent call.
Incidentally, I impute no metaphor onto darkness; it is purely visual to me (or at least to the conscious me). I'm not trying to convey anything about good or evil, the visible or the concealed, the known or the unknown.
The photograph above is not my usual. I was standing watching the horizon gradually grow brighter, as the sun drew closer to rising, and there were a few minutes in there, that particular day, when not much was changing, and I looked over my shoulder, away from the incipient sunrise.
All I can tell you is that I like it. You can, and I hope will, form your own opinion. Were it not for the wispy clouds, almost (at that very early hour) blending into the inkiness of the Blue Hour sky, I wouldn't have bothered. And, in editing, I could have produced more contrast; I chose not to.
That, by the way, is not how it looked to the eye, I think because, at such low light-levels, the human eye doesn't see much colour. It's a particular gift which cameras bestow upon us.
Below is another happy (for me) result of darkness. With very little light, long exposures are required (on a tripod); moving things like water can become smoothed out. I often find the result quite pleasing. The smudging which it can create with clouds: sometimes I like it and more often I do not. This was a fifteen-second (cloud-free) exposure, almost an hour before sunrise. You know it was dark because you can still see some stars (planets, actually).
Above is another little something new, combining the glow of dawn to the east with the Blue Hour to the west.
Below is a photograph which has proven quite popular with my international fan-base, and it illustrates another useful characteristic of darkness: if you get the timing just right, then you can balance the ambient light with any created light in the scene — in this case, I'm talking about the lights on the ship.
There is an interesting technicality about mixed light sources which I won't go into here, but ... you know where to find me!
The ship is Canadian Empress of the St. Lawrence Cruise Lines, having overnighted at Centeen Park in Brockville, Ontario. Spending a week on that vessel is on my list!
Below is not only a photograph which I enjoy, but an interesting story.
What I was doing alone in the Sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church in Brockville is for another time. It was a dark and stormy day, and very dark inside, and the warm and helpful people there had let me loose, informing me of where the light switches were.
I could not find them. I even had a little flashlight with me. I knew that they were right in front of me, but after three concerted attempts, I paused for thought, and then simply started making photographs in the darkness. (It had eventually occurred to me that I do know how!)
Among several which resulted, this is the one to which I most often return.
Had I been able to find the lights, I would have used them. And yet leaving the room in near-darkness gave me this.
Dark as Night
When the stars align, then there are days when I can manage to be on the job an hour or more before sunrise, still so dark that I cannot yet see the controls on my camera. I often find that just the faintest glimmer of light is not only all I need, but is also exactly how much I want.
I feel happy to be there (except for mosquitoes).
I hope that you find my darkness photography illuminating!
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Thank you all so much for reading! Kindly comment.
Charles T. Low
Photographer
Blog #82
2022-06-10
