Silent Night Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is Nygatan [the New Street], a small local street stretching from the City center to the City park. This year - as an experiment imitating larger neighbor Malmö - the street was specially illuminated.

All the streetlights were exchanged for blue lights. The trees (in a schoolyard) were back-lit in different colors. Some lampposts were equipped with spotlights, originally shining down on small Christmas trees.

These light circles looked very good in a snowfall, however when that happened I didn't know night photography. And now all the Christmas trees were gone; stolen or run over - I don't know. But the light circles remained.

At the end of the street the bright lights from Bantorget - one of Lund's many squares, which was included in the illumination - are calling. This is the square dominated by the Grand Hotel, where the shopping area begins and the busy railway station is in sight.

Every Swedish town has a Nygatan, which isn't that new - anymore!

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Image transformed for distortion, cropped, ran autolevels, reduced saturation in magenta -50, ran NeatImage at 60%, resized for TE, framed and saved for Web.

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One year ago today, I did my first upload to TrekEarth "That's Hollywood" - it's quite a journey from Hollywood & Highland to Nygatan...

aloyho, nwoehnl, pamastro, orme, kent_s, alvaraalto has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

maphoto (8076) 2005-01-01 23:02

Great capture Kaj and again wonderful light and sharpness. You took care of every details here with a magic touch, the sky, the frame, the angle are very good, very pleasant beginning for 2005. Happy new year, thanks for sharing.

aloyho (6109) 2005-01-01 23:19

I specially like the lighting and the textural effect of the branches. The shadows of the trees to the left add to the drama. Nice shot!! Happy new year!

tsumeb (468) 2005-01-02 0:25

Quite simply a beautiful symphony of color and shape. Kaj, you've taken me to Sweden . . . and I'm not far from Hollywood and Highland!

danyy (69417) 2005-01-02 3:58

Très joli clin d'oeil sur l'hiver où malgré le manque de neige, ici, un peu seulement, on sent bien l'impression du froid, notamment avec la couleur bleue, réputée froide.

Hauke (2) 2005-01-02 4:50

Hej Kaj, a beautiful shot with strange lights. Fine textures, DOF is pretty good and the eye leading through the pic by diagonals is well done. But there's one thing interfering with your composition: the dark edge of the house left hand. Should have cropped it.

dkeus31 (26361) 2005-01-02 7:17

Nice colors and light.
Good exposure and framing.

nwoehnl (120) 2005-01-02 13:00

Congratulations for your 1-year anniversary on TE, Kaj - and it seems that as of late you're really getting the hang of night shots. Nice shooting angle to have this compositional diagonal made by the cobblestone road, and the blue streetlights described in your note definitely lend a special touch. The only thing I'm not too fond of is the yellow line of the frame (seems to be taking too much attention) but everything else is just great. Well done.

Schultzy (5428) 2005-01-02 13:44

Waouw, so many colors in this trees. Perfect exposure. Nice framing and composition. Very original shot Kaj, well done !

pamastro (7213) 2005-01-02 13:59

This could be the ghosts of Christmas, too. All the trees and festivities gone and only the traces and memories remaining. the colors are beautiful. This is really nice lighting. And the street is small and cozy to match the intimate, cool, lighting. The tree on the right is very well illuminated. And the spotlight in the distance is really ghostly with a bit of mist being lit by it and that bit circle. I'm sure this looked really great with snow, especially before cars turned anything to slush. Perhaps you will get the chance again before the end of winter to at least catch snow, if not the now missing trees. Nicely done and a long distance from Hollywood, indeed.

orme (6746) 2005-01-04 1:28

A very beautiful nighttime shot, Kaj. The lighting is excellent, especially on the first tree. Thanks for the note, which explains all the bright lights at the end of the street. Nice atmosphere.
Thanks for all the great photos over the past year, Kaj.

kent_s (1911) 2005-01-04 10:00

You say you DON'T know night photography. Well if this is the result I can't wait until you know how to take night pix. I'm just amazed.

Extremely well done Kaj

Porteplume (3257) 2005-01-11 5:56

Hej Kaj, how are you? We heard about the strong storm on south west of Sweden and thought about you... Did you take pictures too?

This is a beautiful and moody nightshot! You played very well with the light and the composition got a great balance.
I must add that your photography always has been particularly interesting but I also see improvement in that year on TE, congratulations! :o)

alvaraalto (5303) 2005-01-30 18:01

What tremendous colours. And what a sharp picture. An almost perfect shot. Only a fierce red car a few meter in front of the car on the picture should improved the composition. But who has a fierce red car in Lund?

MvS (4163) 2005-01-31 4:49

Kaj,
Icreadible night shot. The blue toned colours from the street lights(!) and the yellow lit tree is excellent. I also love the yellow tone of the overcast sky.
Regards,
MvS

Clochette (8076) 2005-02-21 13:47

Wow, Kaj.. a faeric street, just in the mood of Tim Burton's movies.
Very good exposure, the colors are amazing !

ydarias (657) 2005-07-31 10:25