Continuing my occasional series (part 1 here) of scenes from this town in darkness.

Recently I thought about how some potential night-time shots stick out to me only because of the time of day. In other words, I might ignore them if the sun were out. But I realized that’s sort of the point: Even a familiar place is simply different when the only light is ours.

This exercise continues to show me how much I have to learn. I still lose images because I’m too often too timid to ask people if I can take their picture. I’m afraid of being seen as weird or creepy. But even if the answer’s no, it’s just a question. I have to keep practicing.

One lost opportunity in particular was during Mardi Gras (which was incredibly tame downtown, at least when I was there, probably because of the weather.) A bartender in a costume of green, gold and purple sequins arranged like a 5 of diamonds card was taking a smoke break. Light spilled from the doorway to her right, glinting off of her sequins and outlining her face as the cigarette’s tip glowed dull orange. All else in the frame was dark.

It was the only holiday-themed image I saw, and I missed it.

I can only keep trying.

Thanks for looking along the way.

Dan

PS, for Jenny: