Our house was designed in the middle of the last century and, as such, has many large windows. During the day, the windows make the house feel more expansive, with the views of the landscape experienced as an extension of the living space. At night, though, things can get a little dicey. The scariest option would have to be the use of drapes, because that would give the impression (at least to me) of being alive inside a casket. There will be time enough for that in due course, and in the mean time, the thought of being buried alive is not that pleasant. The next option is to leave off the drapes entirely, but that leads to the condition of having to stare into a void of blackness at night, as if the house were perched on a cliff, about to topple into the sea. The solution was to install uplighting on several of the trees in our yard. This acknowledges the evening without being as disorienting as the other options. It is also quite interesting photographically because the lack of ambient illumination allows you to study how the artificial lighting works. I enjoy creeping around the yard at night photographing our trees. Why our crepe myrtles are so freakishly shaped is a story for another day. The image above was made with the Sigma dp Quattro. I find the Foveon images work well in black and white.
