available light

by sophiehowarthphotography

On Monday night I was invited to talk and give some practical guidance to the Blue Mountains Photography Group in Springbrook. I really like being asked to talk or teach as it is something I don’t always do and in preparing for it some great insights come. Focusing on ambient light was the topic. I really love to shoot in low light situations without flash. To capture a form in the smallest amount of light. This has been what I like about digital photography as there are a few more stops available to use in low light. However I didn’t get to do all my talk because the class was keen to get shooting as the light was heading out. So I thought my 2nd blog post I’d pop some of that up here before I get onto putting the rest of my BDO blog up.

‘How to capture the form in low light is one of my greatest joys! I find that light that hovers not dark but near dark so intriging and can be very difficult to capture. Digital Cameras have made this more accessible. In the past I was forever pushing film 3 stops and more and the lab telling me you couldn’t do that. Well you can.

There something magic to be captured in low light situations I believe.

So much so I want to read you the first 2 lines of a poem by Rumi whose words for me capture that same magic that can be captured in low light situations. Its called:

At The Time Of the Night Prayer by Rumi,

from The Rumi Collection, translated by Robert Bly, edited by Kabir Helminski

At the time of the night prayer,as the sun slides down, the route the senses walk on closes,the route to the invisible opens.

For me Rumi’s words are so alive. It is the same with a photograph the moment it is taken if the photographer is present to the situation then the photograph can live again when it is viewed after the fact. This requires looking and seeing on the surface and beyond the surface and having use of technical knowledge or throwing it away.