City Lights
Recently, I've been really interested in nighttime photography. More specifically nighttime photography on expired slide film. Something about how expired slide film renders the city lights has always peaked my interest. Deep reds, and cool blues it somehow simultaneously looks true-to-life while also being something out of a Martin Scorsese film and literally all it takes is a tripod, a camera, and a light meter.
Not all is well though, sometimes you end up being kicked out of a spot mid long-exposure (as well as forgetting your cable release - rookie mistake) and accidentally ruin an image.
The calm before getting kicked out and me accidentally ruining my long-exposure
The ruined shot
Funny enough, I did manage to capture this triptych on Polaroid before getting kicked out.
Despite the weird light leak on the left-most frame, this came out awesome
Other times however, you encounter moments that are so perfectly set up it'll make walking around aimlessly on a cold windy winter night worth it.
The windows being the same color as the Empire State Building was a good turn of events, the set-up
The shot
Sometimes you mess up, but you live and you learn. Even more-so with night-time photography and dealing with longer exposures.
In addition to using expired slide film, I also decided to bring some Cinestill 800T. 800T is a popular choice for nighttime photography due to it's unique look in the highlights (halation) caused by the removal of a the rem-jet backing in the film, this renders as these interesting reddish halos.
I think film photography can be intimidating, even more-so at night. Here's your sign to just go out there and experiment, and have fun. Mistakes are bound to happen and even if you do not get the perfect shot, the opportunity to learn and have fun will make it worth-while. :D
Here's to jumping in the middle of the street to take a photo, and to all the night-time photography that I hope to do as the weather warms up.
