A feature of the most voted photos in the Night Challenge chosen from the photos of the Night Gallery by Andrea Ratto, Delfim Correlo, Edita Sabalionyte, Fabio Balestra, Frans Kemper, Karlo Flores, Keef Charles, Neville Fan, Niklas Lindskog, Stefania Lazzari.

The night is a wonderful creature.
It leaves us always wondering about what we don’t see.
It can fill us with fear, but also with joy.
It brings out magic light and darkness at the same time.
The night hides things from us, but shows others at the same time.
The night brings out the stars and shows us also a different kind of human being.
Mother nature embraces the night and shows her respect by keeping quiet and settling down.

I never witnessed such a high response as with the night challenge. It was terminated prematurely due to the overwhelming number of (amazingly good) submissions.
It made me think (Yes, I do that from time to time), and wonder how come. Here are a few of my thoughts.

We street photographers are hunters. We scan our environment, aim, snap and move on. All in a split second. Hardly time to lift the camera and frame properly. Especially the candid ones. Always hoping the “victim” doesn’t notice.
At day time it is easier to actually approach and communicate with people, but who wants to communicate with a total stranger at night on the street. Right?

So, in the dark hours we mostly need to rely on candids. And here the dark is our cover. We scan, snap and disappear, all is a split second and unnoticed.

It seems to me that the night is more generous in offering “different” characters on the street than day. Hence, more candid opportunities...

The lighting is so much more challenging and so much more fun. At least for me it is. Especially our category, which is almost always handheld shooting.

For me, night shooting is “my thing”

Frans Kemper

The response from people to this challenge was fantastic.
A real variety of shots!
Some hard hitting, others arty. Some brought out the mood with their tones of black and white, others with subtle or explosive colours.
Unsurprisingly, the majority that made it into the Gallery were colour. With scenes so dark, the extra dimension that colour offered, allowed viewers the chance to more easily disseminate the image.
There were, of course, a bevy of ‘power shots’; those more reliant on the background, architecture or light show contained within.
I didn’t have any preconceived ideas. Largely, I guess, because I rarely have the opportunity to shoot at night.
Sifting through the shots, stopping and dwelling on those that grabbed my attention, I realised that most of the shots that appealed were those that ‘spoke’ to me.
I’m almost reluctant to say... this but one person’s images consistently made me feel I was there. They were very often understated, like a scene through the window of a tram or another looking into a café or restaurant. Many were bigger slices of the night. People silhouetted in apartment or office windows; the expanse of building adding to the mood. People looking more ant-like almost... or the sense of isolation heightened.
These shots belonged to Batsceba Hardy. She has the ability to capture people in their windows in such an intimate way that you can almost hear the stereo playing in the background as people speak. You’re there. More importantly, to me, you don’t feel like a voyeur. She captures such scenes without intruding.
She made me feel the night.
She made me realise that I need to get out with my camera more often after dark.
This challenge was a pleasure and a learning for me.

Keef Charles

Frans Kemper Keef Charles

George Natsioulis , Angel Rodriguez, Batsceba Hardy, Simon Gradwell

Rainer Neumann, Tatskie Amarille Formentera, Johny, Dzung Viet Le, Martin Sanders, Fabio Furlotti,
Óscar París, Patrick Merino, Jürgen Warschun, Richard Keshen, Shlomy Evron, Christophe Dabreau, Dennis Niew, Daniel Bauer, Fabio Balestra, Husni Munir, John Rudio, Mark Guider, Keef Charles

Paul Raymond Paule, Sarasij Dasgupta, Tamar Ganor Zandman, Never Edit, Lars Joelsson, Lek Hidalgo
Adryan Chan, Edita Sabalionyte, Niklas Lindskog, Pacho Coulchinsky, Gerri Mclaughlin, Katarzyna Krzyżanowska, Rei Ueno,

Michael Gibbons, Pascal Colin, Elisa Santoro Uccello, Karl J Zeller, Tony Antanas Jackson, Xav Beaumont, Abrar Asad, Alphan Yilmazmaden, Delfim Correlo, Lola Minister
Donna Marchese Kross Bogo Pečnikar, Lorenzo Ponzi, Mario Pagalanan Acyatan, Jof Ayo, Elisa Goldstein,
Orlando Durazzo, Valentina Tanase, Wilfried Gebhard, Liviu Ionita, Bry Galimba Villalongja, Frank Winters, Richard Keeling, Lisa Lorenzo Uy, Vittorio Scatolini, মনীষা দাস, Neville Fan, Frans Kemper, Fran Balseiro

OPEN THE PICS FOR READING THE NAME OF THE AUTHORS

Christophe Dabreau Dennis Niew

Edita Sabalionyte

Niklas Lindskog

Pacho Coulchinsky

Gerri McLaughlin

Katarzyna Krzyżanowska‎

Rei Ueno