night photography

"Inside Lives" Project by John Ritchie

The past year has been extremely challenging as we’ve faced the Coronovirus and the social distancing imposed by it. As we move into winter, social distancing will turn into isolation when there’s little daylight and the weather turns bad, forcing people to retreat into their homes and wait for better times. I’m taking advantage of these long dark hours to work on a new project that I’m calling “Inside Lives.”

With “Inside Lives” I make photographs of people in the privacy of their homes, illustrating aspects of their lives not seen by others. The photos are all taken at night from outside the house, peering through windows into the home. I hope to capture the uniqueness of people in their private lives, especially as they cope with isolation, and do it in a way that both adheres to and features social distancing. The photographs should be true to their subjects, somewhat voyeuristic, show unusual (even weird) activity, and may be moody, disturbing, or funny.

I’m using volunteer models and have done several shoots already. Recruiting people to work on it with me has been a challenge due to the Coronavirus-imposed lack of social engagement. Photo shoots are fun for all, take a look at what I’ve done and please consider volunteering!

I plan to do as much work on this as I can during winter and spring while darkness is readily available then start showing the work next year. Of course this schedule depends on how rampant the Coronavirus becomes this winter and how much contact it allows. I’m keeping as safe as I can during the shoots but if we need to quarantine at home it’ll make it hard to do anything.

A New Year, A New Project by John Ritchie

Viewers of this site currently see two bodies of work: Night’s Quiet Light and Their World, Our World. The first is all about night, and dark, and quiet, while the second is about people, primarily street photography. I’ve decided to marry the two in a new project that I’m calling “Night Life” until the project shapes itself into a better title. Its goal is to show lively night and people as they are at night. A prime example is “Street Party,” a photo I took a few years ago.

Street Party

Street Party

Toward that end, I’ve been going out at night, shooting handheld, trying to capture the type of energy and life I see out there. I’m experimenting technically, artistically and thematically. Here are several photos showing what I’ve been coming up with. Some of these might better be characterized as “studies” rather than as finished art for the gallery walls, but I’m pretty happy with what I’m seeing so far.

Dreaming In Color at LightBox Photographic by John Ritchie

I’ve long been a supporter of LightBox Photographic in Astoria and have been in several Member’s Shows, but for the first time I’ve actually been juried into a show there! And not one, but two pieces! The juror is Jody Miller, whose beautiful work you can see here: www.jodymillerphoto.com.

Jody says this about the show (full description here): “Color is a very personal issue for most of us photographers. It’s also a completely individual experience, since not one of us sees color exactly the same way as anyone else. Our perception of color informs our choices as photographers and creates our emotional language. “Dreaming in Color” is about much more than our dreams. It is an invitation to explore your own uses of color in your photography and tell us how it influences your decisions in image making. I look forward to seeing what you have to say, (in color).”

“Yard Car” is very colorful as one would hope. I love the color, texture and light of this photograph and have worked hard on the print to make it especially tasty. IMO, that doesn’t mean pushing saturation over the top. I have both a mental and technical struggle with oversaturation, a feature of many photographs these days. But I also want it to pop, so instead of relying on saturation I’ve worked on local contrast all throughout the image. I think it came out really well, but I’m biased. :)

Yard Car

“Night Geometry” really hits the mark of the exhibit prospectus: it illustrates the beauty and use of color in my personal photographic space, night photography. This is one of the best examples I’ve shot of the way multiple different colors of light cast overlapping shadows at night, and how those overlaps combine to make new forms, shapes and colors that you’d never see during daylight hours. A technical description of this photograph would be: shadows cast by (I think) three light sources as they combine under a stairway. The artistic description could be: an explosion of geometric shapes in varying shades of pastel colors. This is one of my favorite photographs and I’m delighted to be able to share it.

Night Geometry

I hope you get a chance to see the Dreaming In Color exhibit, it should be an extraordinary and beautiful show. I plan to be at the opening, maybe I’ll see you there!

Exhibit Dates: November 09, 2019 through December 10, 2019 with an opening reception Saturday, November 9th from 5-8PM

LightBox Photographic

1045 Marine Drive, Astoria Oregon

Nocturnes & Noir in San Francisco by John Ritchie

Dispossessed

My photograph "Dispossessed" was accepted for the Nocturnes & Noir exhibit at the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco.  The exhibit, juried by Michael Kenna and Helen K. Garber, combines two schools of night photographic thought: the peace of the Nocturne with the darkness of Noir.  The exhibit celebrates the 25th anniversary of The Nocturnes Night Photography Group.

I've participated in Nocturnes exhibits before, but I was particularly pleased to have my photograph selected by Michael Kenna for this one.  His book "Mont St. Michel" was one of the first photography books I've purchased and his photographs have been an inspiration to me ever since.

The exhibit runs from February 11th through April 2nd, 2017 at the Harvey Milk Photo Center, 50 Scott Street, San Francisco.  There is an opening reception Saturday February 11th from 5:30 to 8:00 PM.

Night Photography: Dusk to Dawn - PhotoPlace Gallery by John Ritchie

Three images from my Night's Quiet Light collection were juried into an exhibition in Vermont.

Fog Bow Tree

I'm very pleased that three of my images were selected by Juror Lance Keimig into the "Night Photography: Dusk to Dawn" exhibit.

The gallery exhibition will be from November 30th to December 29th, 2016 in the PhotoPlace Gallery at 3 Park Street in Middlebury, Vermont.

The exhibition consists of physical and online exhibit components. "Fog Bow Tree" (above) was selected for the physical gallery exhibition, while "Back Alley Staircase" and "Transpiration" were placed in the online exhibit.  Both exhibits are available online here, and contain many fine night photographs.

Night's Quiet Light: August 2015 by John Ritchie

NightsQuietLight_Ritchie_sm.jpg

During the month of August I have a solo exhibit of night photography at the Oregon State University MU Concourse Gallery.  The exhibit features 24 color and black-and-white photographs of stillness, solitude and peaceful light found in the night world.  The show includes lots of new work as well as some old favorites.

The exhibit runs from August 1st to September 10th, 2015.  The gallery is located in the Memorial Union on the OSU campus and hours are 8-5 Monday through Friday.  http://mu.oregonstate.edu/art-gallery/

Night/People - August 26th through September 30th 2014 by John Ritchie

Dance

The fascinating people I've met while out doing night photography have inspired me to learn to photograph them.  I often use night photography techniques when photographing people, which brings out unusual aspects of their personality.

I will be exhibiting a collection of photographs in a solo show at the Unitarian Church in Corvallis from August 26th through September 30th 2014.  The exhibit, entitled "Night/People," highlights my transition from peaceful night photographs to photos of people, mostly at night.

The exhibit can be seen at:

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis

2946 NW Circle Blvd., Corvallis

Hours are 9:30AM to 1 PM Tues - Thur (until mid-September, then Mon-Fri) and when open for special events.

Spring/Summer 2014: Three Juried Exhibits by John Ritchie

It looks like it's going to be a busy summer for exhibits.  I have works in three juried shows so far this year:

Farm to Table: Table at Lane Community College in Eugene, OR.

The third installment in the "Farm to Table" show at the David Joyce Gallery at Lane Community College. The spring show focuses on the "table" leg of the farm-to-table stool, with paintings, drawings and photographs of prepared foods, table settings, pantries and the like.  The gallery is located in the Center building on the LCC campus.  The exhibit runs from March 26th through June 6th.

12th Around Oregon Annual at the Arts Center in Corvallis, OR.

I'm happy to have been accepted into the 12th Around Oregon Annual exhibit at the Arts Center.  This is always a good show in a nice gallery.

The exhibit is from May 29th through July 5th at the Corvallis Arts Center, located at 700 SW Madison.

After Dark III in the Greg Moon Gallery, Taos NM.

I'm particularly excited to have had three works accepted for display in the Greg Moon Gallery in Taos, New Mexico.  The exhibit's theme is Night art in any media.  My photograph "Dispossessed" was selected for the invitation card.

The exhibit runs from June 7th through June 28th with an artist's reception on the 7th.