Night photography, Germany
Night photography in Germany: urban frames made with long exposures. A self-directed night photography series made across several cities: a cable-stayed…
A self-directed night photography series made across several cities: a cable-stayed bridge with its pylon lit violet, the Frankfurt towers from above with the ribbons of traffic between them, the Arc de Triomphe under a magenta sky, London’s City Hall by Tower Bridge in the blue hour, an escalator underground, a half-timbered lane in warm light, a tunnel washed in blue, and the Gendarmenmarkt. Exposures running into seconds, all from a tripod — and a window of about twenty minutes an evening in which the sky still holds detail.
One frame is made over Frankfurt at the blue hour. An arterial road runs into the picture below as a chain of orange sodium lamps, the blocks of the Westend between them, and the towers behind: the Westend Tower with its lit crown, the Messeturm with its pyramid, the red mark of the Sparkasse to the right. Above it a sky running from violet into pink.
That is the one quarter of an hour in which a skyline works. Later the sky is black, the windows are white holes and the streets are blown-out streaks; earlier the windows have no light in them. What is caught here is the moment when sky and façades hold the same brightness — and both draw.
- Technique
- Long Exposure
