Night – Page 16 – Decaseconds

St. Lawrence Winter Otherworld

2015-Jan-052015-Jan-06 adohertyhLeave a comment

No cropping, no HDR, and only minimal post-processing were applied to this image. Wandering in a snowstorm with a prime lens felt, well, primal, and I wanted an image that captured that. I know that there’s no such thing as the “true” photograph of a place or a moment, but at the edge of St. Lawrence’s campus, at this particular blue hour, the magic needed no adulteration.

This is the kind of image that I look back on the most: the ones with the strongest sense of place, the most obvious path to escape into the image. As we start a new year, I’d like to think that it’s a mark of my increased confidence as a photographer that I can make more with less. (Though don’t get me wrong—there are times when I’m glad to be able to make something out of nothing.)

Passing By

2014-Dec-10 adohertyh4 Comments

The North Country is carpeted in snow (not shown). I like to think back to the lazy, shoveling-free fall days when homes were just beginning to mystically gird themselves for the oncoming blizzard. Life merrily passes by these old, modest homes.

Late Night Chinese Food

2014-Dec-01 adohertyh2 Comments

Spending the past decade in urban environs, easy access to cuisine from outside the European canon was always a given. When I arrived in the North Country, I was ready for the snow—but perhaps not for the near-total absence of food from Asian cuisines. Just up the road from Dave’s II (which I’ve photographed previously) is No. A-1 Oriental Kitchen, which seems to satisfy every preconception of what a Chinese food restaurant in New York might be (according to twentieth-century American cinema.)

Rain Trucks

2014-Nov-24 adohertyh5 Comments

Rainy nights on the interstates are threatening, and few sights represent that better than the aligned brake lights of 18-wheelers, glaring out between the raindrops.

Until Next Time, North Country

2014-Nov-23 adohertyhLeave a comment

Having spent almost the entire fall in the St. Lawrence County, having the opportunity to travel and change my scenery is welcome. Even as I contemplate the Chicago skyline, the North Country says goodbye with this pastoral sunrise

American Cinema

2014-Nov-14 adohertyh4 Comments

The American Theatre in Canton, New York has survived many a winter (and an unfortunately interior remodeling) with much of its twentieth-century charm intact. Continuing my investigation of the “slightly sinister” in small-town America (from yesterday and last spring), this is yet another charming vision of Americana. The echo of a passing car’s headlights in the street below only adds to the mystery.

Labatt Blue Velvet

2014-Nov-12 adohertyh8 Comments

In the past, I’ve documented the slightly sinister feel of Canton at its most David-Lynchian. Here again, the lights of Main Street are friendly and inviting, but with that edge that small towns have. I can’t wait to see it carpeted in snow—the ambience changes again.

Brenzier Grass

2014-Nov-07 adohertyhLeave a comment

Having read about the Brenzier Method of producing wide-angle photos with intense bokeh, I thought I’d give it a try. I’m not totally happy with this image of the grass shifting in the rain outside my building, but it’s exciting to try new things and aim towards new possibilities. In the mean time, I think this image nicely captures the strange, silhouetted glow of being outside a busy building at night.

Sci-Fi Garden

2014-Oct-24 adohertyhLeave a comment

Today’s photograph is from two years ago, and what was once my mundane walk home has now become a totally alien scene of science fiction flora and architecture. The overwhelming light of the windows and the sharp geometries imposed by noise reduction algorithms really add to the effect.

SLUperMoon

2014-Sep-17 adohertyhLeave a comment

The last supermoon of the summer (such as it is) was hovering over the Adirondacks and over St. Lawrence’s sylvan campus. The interplay with the science buildings seemed appropriate.

Even better, though, was the alignment of the moon directly over the tiny tower in the Adirondacks (cell, I’m guessing?). Maybe it’s innocuous, or maybe it’s part of a plan by a mad scientist to finally control the Moon!

St. Lawrence Campus I

2014-Sep-10 adohertyhLeave a comment

St. Lawrence is an amazing place to spend time in mid-September: the lushness of summer is just barely beginning to crisp into fall, an autumn chill creeps into the evening air, and students (and faculty) have settled into the rhythms of another year.

Hoot Owl Express

2014-Sep-032014-Sep-03 adohertyh1 Comment

Bleary-eyed, through a wide-open aperture with the last hints of sun and the now-dominant neon signage as its only lighting, I present to you: the Hoot Owl Express. This is (for the moment) St. Lawrence’s main “student bar,” its walls covered in old hockey jerseys and its staff preternaturally capable of spotting a fake I.D.

Vernon Street Night

2014-Jul-28 adohertyhLeave a comment

“Lights so bright they turn night into day!” Vernon Street, home of the Greek organizations of Trinity College, is a place where the time and the activities rarely seem correlated. On a night during the summer, however, the world was quiet and empty.

Morgan’s Ice House

2014-Jul-14 adohertyhLeave a comment

Summer means ice cream! There’s no more fitting place for a crowd to be during the Dairy Princess Festival than crowded around the local ice cream stand. The contrast is strong and the setting is familiar in that “classic Americana” kind of way. Even the edge of the house next door adds that bit of small-town welcoming spirit. A scene of Norman-Rockwell-esque friendliness.

Two Rides from the Dairy Princess Festival

2014-Jun-112014-Jun-11 adohertyhLeave a comment

Today, I’ll follow up Monday’s “Three Scenes” with two of the cool cars/trucks/auto-vehicles from the Dairy Princess Festival last weekend. Seeing strange and special cars in a land of brütal road salt is a testament to their owners care and attention.

I shot these images free-hand, outside, after 9:00 PM. That’s a testament of its own—either to the power of a fast prime lens and good noise reduction software, or to how late it stays light in the summer when you live this far north.