Don’t let the title fool you. I am by no means a “photographer“. I am in fact an 18 year old high school senior in a photo class. A high school senior in a photo class in a small, small, small town, to be more specific.
Anyway, our last project was to take a portrait in the style of a famous photographer. Unfortunately, as a second semester senior class, we had to skip a few projects, one being night photography. With this in mind, I decided to pick a photographer who did night photography (or maybe I just wanted the chance to be out as late as I wanted on a school night, you decide). Eventually, with some guidance from the best teacher ever, I settled on Brassai.
Born in 1899, Brassai loved French culture, and the majority of his work is of Paris at night, which left me able to do night photography. However, Milford, NH is so not Paris. Paris in my mind is a sort of paradise, a land of what ifs. I mean, it’s foreign! Anything can happen in a foreign country (and I’m not talking about any sort of Taken scenario either, I’m talking bright lights, museums, cute boys/girls for those of us who are single, great food, etc.) To me the idea of being able to photograph in Paris, or anywhere in Europe for that matter, is magical. But I was pleasantly surprised when I parked in the town center late at night on May 23rd. Okay it wasn’t that late, only about 10:30, but normally I’m in bed by then, wild, right?
I was lucky enough to have Hollis, a wonderful photographer himself, model for me. It was nice to have help when I needed it, but I’m proud to say I managed to accomplish some great shots on my owl with little help.
We went to a few locations, each surprising me with the aura they gave off in pictures. Where was the small town vibe? The boring, well known locations proved to be anything but after hours. The most surprising location was an abandoned BP gas station. It’s one of those places I see every day and think nothing of, it doesn’t look like anything special during the day, it hardly looks abandoned if I’m being honest. But at night, it’s a different story.
Hollis proved to be an exceptional model, he even provided his own Camels, which gave an added mysteriousness and big city aura to the photos.
A lesson learned, small towns are not horrible places for interesting night photography. I look forward to many more late night outings (hopefully with both Hollis and Phil in tow).
sailortr 
Cool shots.