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Books About Night Photography
A list of texts by photographers who have dealt with some aspect of the nocturne. Also, where indicated, you will find a review of that book by a seasoned Night Photographer or other distinguished resource. In addition, you can view an extensive backlist of all the recent acquisitions in The Nocturnes library, and another back catalog of music titles we've recently acquired (it is The Nocturnes, after all!).

Did you know that you can personnally contribute to The Nocturnes NPy Library? One way is by helping us acquire some of the titles and other NPy essentials in our Amazon Wish List (just below the Michael Kenna quotation on the right). It's a great way to do good - and further the study of Night Photography!

Or, order thru the links provided, any of the texts listed below and we enjoy a small commission on your purchase. Again, a great way to do good, enjoy NPy, and further the work of The Nocturnes!

Another way to contribute: Why not let us know of your favorite "NPy" text, and write a review (it can even be brief!) to be published here on the Web site - get involved! Have a look at the first two reviews we published below: reviews of Matt Lennert's book, as well as Troy Paiva's "Lost America," both penned by devoted Nocturne, Andy Frazer.

Night Work
Michael Kenna
Introductory conversation with Tim Baskerville
Friends of Photography and Nazraeli Press, 2000
ISBN: 3-923922-83-3

Purchase this book from Amazon

" Night photography, for me, enhances the situation because the light is like stage lighting. It can be dramatic; there are often strong, dark shadows, the light is usually coming from below or laterally rather than from above, as in daylight; and there is a sense of theatre, a sense of something about to happen."
Michael Kenna, from Night Walk




Thinking of donating to "the cause?"
You can personally help build The Nocturnes Library thru this Wish List
of titles and essentials to be acquired!




" Answer Yourself' specifically, deals with the time in your life when you stop ignoring the little voice inside your head, and start listening to it! It calls to you, and if you listen, it tells you who you are, what you should be, what to do, which way to go, which choices to make."
From foreword to Answer Yourself by Tim Baskerville


" I learned that there's a new language of working photographically at night. I just fell in love with the language."
Richard Misrach

 

" I go out walkin' after midnight
Out in the moonlight
just like we used to do
I'm always walkin' after midnight
Searching for you I walk for miles
along the highway
Well that's just my way
Of saying I love you
I'm always walkin' after midnight
Searching for you"
Walkin' After Midnight by Patsy Cline

 

" I like to photograph alone. There are few people out at night, compared to during the day. I find that my senses become keener. I listen for people; I listen for movement;
I can even smell more, because it is so calm and peaceful."
Michael Kenna, from Night Walk

 

" Now I know the business of the heart
And it'll get you anyway it can
If you need someone to walk with in the dark I'm your man."
Trouble by Shawn Colvin

 

" One of nature's noble men, and a legitimate American genius and nut."
regarding O. Winston Link;
John Szarkowski, former Curator of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art

Answer Yourself
Matthew Donovan Lennert
Foreword by Tim Baskerville
Photocelt Press, 2003
ISBN: 0-9742348-0-x
> Read a review

Buy MDL's book Here

The Presidio, Portraits of a Changing Landscape
Charity Vargas
Introduction by Randolph Delehanty Ph.D.
Limited Edition, 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0-615-24792-2
> Read a review by Tim Baskerville

Purchase Charity's book and help
The Nocturnes
Night & Low-Light Photography
Jill Waterman, with contributions from Tim Baskerville and other noted Nocturnes.
Introduction by Michael Kenna
Amphoto Books; 1st edition, 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0817432416

Buy Jill's Book on NPy - NOW!
Night/Shift
Lynn Saville, Introduction by Arthur Danto
The Monacelli Press (May 19, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1580932196
> Read a review by Tim Baskerville

Purchase Lynn's book, help The Nocturnes.

Industrial Night
Tom Paiva
The Image Room, 2002
ISBN: 0-9716928-0-7

Obtain this hard-to-find title NOW!

Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration
Troy Paiva, with foreword by Geoff Manaugh
Chronicle Books, 2008
ISBN: 978-0811863384

Explore (Urbanely) Night Vision!
London After Dark
Alan Delaney
Phaidon Press Limited, 1993
ISBN: 0-7148-2870-x

Acquire text thru Amazon

Lost America
Troy Paiva, with foreword by Stan Ridgway
MBI Publishing Company, 2003
ISBN: 0-7603-1490-x
> Read a review

Get Lost!


Night Photography
Andrew Sanderson
Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002
ISBN: 0-8174-5007-6
> Read a review

After reading review, find out more Here!

Night Walk
Michael Kenna
Friends of Photography, 1988
ISBN: 0-9332-8651-1

Le Notre's Gardens
Michael Kenna
Ram Publications, 1997
ISBN: 0-9630785-2-6

The Rouge
Michael Kenna
RAM Publications, U S A 1995
ISBN: 0-9630-7851-8

Michael Kenna: A Twenty Year Retrospective
Foreward by Ruth Bernhard
Treville, 1994
ISBN: 4-8457-0964-3

Purchase thru our site - Amazon


Inside the Live Reptile Tent
The Twilight World of the Carnival Midway

Jeff Brouws
Chronicle Books, 2001
ISBN: 0-8118-2824-7

Available at bargain prices at Amazon

The Sky Book
Richard Misrach
Arena Editions, 2000
ISBN: 1-892041-28-6

Photographs 1975-1987
Richard Misrach
Min Gallery, 1988
ISBN: 4-9062-6517-x

Alfred Stieglitz, Photographs and Writings
Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art
Little, Brown & Company, 1999
ISBN: 0-8212-2563-4

Beautiful book, typography - from Amazon!

Light after Dark:
A Portrait of Southern Ruins

Karekin Goekjian
Lucinne, Inc. Athens, Georgia

Photography in California 1945-1980
Louise Katzman
Introduction by Van Deren Coke
Hudson Hills Press and SFMOMA, 1984
ISBN: 0-933920-45-8

Paris by Night
Brassai
Pantheon Books, 1987
ISBN: 0-394-56327-1

Paris by Night
Brassai
New Edition
Bulfinch Press, 2001
ISBN: 0-8212-2738-6

Brassai: The Eye of Paris
Brassai/Anne Wilkes Tucker
Harry N Abrams Inc, 1999
ISBN: 0-810-96380-9

 

Londres de Nuit
Bill Brandt
Out of Print, extremely hard to find

Summer Nights
Robert Adams
Title out of print

Expansions
William Lesch
Treville Co. Ltd. 1992
ISBN: 4-8457-0667-9

Marks in Place:
Contemporary Responses to Rock Art

Steve Fitch, Linda Connor, Rick Dingus, John Pfahl, Charles Roitz. Essays by Keith Davis, Lucy Lippard, and Polly Schaafsma
University of New Mexico Press, 1988
ISBN: 0-8263-0975-5
ISBN: 0-8263-0976-3 (pbk)
 

New York to Hollywood
Karl Struss
University of New Mexico Press 1987
ISBN: 0-8263-1638-7

Seizing the Light: A History of Photography
Robert J. Hirsch
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Oct. 1999
ISBN: 0697143619

The Writing on the Wall
Shimon Attie
Edition Braus, 1994
ISBN: 3-89466-095-3

Venice Night
Luca Campigotto, Text by Gino Benzoni
Dewi Lewis Publishing, 1993
ISBN: 1-8992-3520-

 


Ghost Trains
O. Winston Link
The Chrysler Museum 1983 (out of print)
ISBN: 0-940744-43-0

Steam, Steel and Stars
O. Winston Link
Abradale Press 1987
ISBN: 0-8109-8185-8

The Last Steam Railroad in America:
From Tidewater to Whitetop

O. Winston Link and Thomas H. Garver
Harry N Abrams 1995
ISBN: 0-8109-3575-9

Acquainted With the Night
Lynn Saville (Photographer),
Bill Moyers (Foreward)
Rizzoli, 1997
ISBN: 0-8478-1979-5

Hear the lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is a-winding low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long
When time keeps crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide his face and cry

Have you ever seen a robin weep
When leaves have turned to brown?
Like me he's lost his will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple haze
And yes I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
by Hank Williams and Cowboy Junkies,
Trinity Session

On Planet Earth: Travels in an Unfamiliar Land
Jan Staller, Luc Sante (Introduction)
Aperture, 1997
ISBN: 0-8938-1730-9

Frontier New York
Jan Staller
Hill Press, 1988
ISBN: 1-55595-009-4

 
Alfred Stieglitz
Stieglitz/Dorothy Newman
Aperture Foundation Inc., 1997
ISBN: 0-893-81745-7
 
 

Night Shots:
a Guide to Professional Lighting Techniques
Alex Larg and Jane Wood
Quintet Publishing, 1997
ISBN: 2-88046-3246

Night & Low-Light Photograhy: A Complete Guide
Bob Gibbons, Peter Wilson (Contributor)
Cassell Academic, 1993
ISBN: 0304343315

Capturing the Night With Your Camera:
How to Take Great Photographs After Dark

John Carucci
Amphoto, 1995
ISBN: 0817436618

Exploring Color Photography Ed 1 and 2
Robert Hirsch
Wm. C. Brown, Publishers
ISBN: 0-697-06132-9

Existing-Light Photography
The Workshop Series
Kodak, Third Edition, 1999
ISBN: 0-97985-744-7