Night Photography: Dusk to Dawn

Juror’s Statement

The qualities that make for a good night photograph are light, atmosphere, composition, and subject. For me personally, it is usually the quality of light that captures my attention and draws me to a scene.

Night photography often appeals to our romantic sensibilities, and thus images that convey a strong mood or atmosphere are hard to resist. Stillness, quiet, solitude, darkness, mystery — these are the qualities I look for in nocturnes. Suggestive images that leave something to the imagination often hold the viewer’s attention longer than a literal presentation that gives the story away on first viewing. Composition reinforces the aforementioned qualities, and helps to lead the viewer’s eye. Finally, an interesting subject completes the photograph and gives an image purpose.

Many strong images were submitted for Night Photography: Dusk to Dawn, and I wish I could have included more; it was a real challenge to limit the choices to 75 photographs. The quality of the images was outstanding, and I look forward to seeing the prints in the gallery. It was a real privilege to be a part of this exhibit.

- Lance Keimig

About the Juror

Lance Keimig is a Pembroke, Massachusetts based photographer who is best known for night photography of the built environment. His book, Night Photography: Finding Your Way In The Dark was published by Focal Press in August of 2010, and has been translated into 6 languages. A second edition was published in July of 2015. Keimig is the curator of Darkness, Darkness, a traveling exhibit of Night Photography, which opened at the Three Columns Gallery at Harvard University, where he was Curator from 2006-2010.

His photographs are held in numerous collections including The Art Complex Museum In Duxbury, MA, The Boston Athenaeum, The Boston Public Library, The Grace Museum in Abilene, TX, State Street Bank, Fidelity Investments, Paramount Partners, Hitachi, Rayovac, 3 Com.

He has taught at the New England School of Photography in Boston since 2000, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University, The Houston Center for Photography, and leads independent workshops across the country. Keimig is a cofounder of The Nocturnes Night Photography Workshops in San Francisco, and partner in National Parks at Night.

Since 2001, Keimig has led annual photo tours to Iceland, Cuba, Ireland and Scotland, as well as teaching photo workshops across the United States.

Learn more about Lance Keimig through his website, here.

Call for Entries

Photography from the hours of dusk to dawn offers vast creative opportunities, and with them, substantial technical challenges. The long exposures that are often required turn pinpoints of light into star trails, test the sturdiness of our tripods, and require photographers to constantly make technical decisions; perhaps no other photographic endeavor better illustrates the profound difference between the human eye and the camera.

But along with its challenges, working at night immerses the photographer in a somewhat alien, often insecure environment that heightens senses, speeds up the pulse, and reminds us that we humans are not nocturnal creatures

We seek technically excellent images that express the mystery and solitude that are so a part of photographing at night.

All capture methods and processes are welcome.