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Work / 2025

Night Traffic

Place: Rhine valley
Made: March & November 2025
Frames: 9

Light trails and out-of-focus lamps from hillsides above roads that run along the river.

A valley road at night is a reliable light source: every few seconds something drives through and draws a line. From the slopes above, the lines bend with the river and stack into bands of red and white.

Some frames are exposures of several seconds; others are the opposite — short exposures, focus pulled all the way in, so the lamps become discs. Two nights of rain gave me the frames with streaks.

Long exposure at night: streams of red tail-lights and pale headlights drawn into smooth, curving lines across a dark valley. — No. 0150 mm · f/8 · 1/30 s · ISO 100

Out-of-focus night lights dissolving into overlapping discs of amber, white and a little blue against near-black. — No. 0235 mm · f/11 · 4 s · ISO 800

Red and white light trails sweep across the frame while blurred street lights hang above them as soft discs. — No. 0385 mm · f/1.8 · 1/30 s · ISO 100

Light trails seen through rain at night, with falling drops caught as faint vertical streaks and blurred lamps behind. — No. 0450 mm · f/1.8 · 8 s · ISO 800

Long exposure at night: streams of red tail-lights and pale headlights drawn into smooth, curving lines across a dark valley. — No. 0535 mm · f/11 · 8 s · ISO 100

Long exposure at night: streams of red tail-lights and pale headlights drawn into smooth, curving lines across a dark valley. — No. 0650 mm · f/11 · 1/30 s · ISO 800

Out-of-focus night lights dissolving into overlapping discs of amber, white and a little blue against near-black. — No. 0750 mm · f/1.8 · 15 s · ISO 100

Red and white light trails sweep across the frame while blurred street lights hang above them as soft discs. — No. 0850 mm · f/1.8 · 1/30 s · ISO 200

Light trails seen through rain at night, with falling drops caught as faint vertical streaks and blurred lamps behind. — No. 0935 mm · f/1.8 · 1/8 s · ISO 800

Technical notes

Exposure: 4–15 s for trails; 1/30 s and wide open for the defocused frames
Lenses: 50 mm and an 85 mm; the 85 gives the rounder discs
Conditions: Dry nights and two wet ones; lens hood and a cloth for the rain
Processing: Highlights pulled down; red channel watched closely to avoid clipping