Postcards of the Night

June 3, 2025

Steven Perdikis

For the first time in a long time, I’ve taken my camera, and some lights, and a few friends out into the night. No real plan, no real outcome desired. Just the notion of night time, eerie light, a white dress, a female form, and a narrative that would unfold as we worked.

This work is a collaboration that would not be possible without the assistance of others. I am grateful to both Abbey, and Erin. I hope that this is the start of some sort of collective or coven of artists, as I’m really happy with the outcome.

This is work not in my normal style – it challenges me to present rawer, less “technically sound” photography, but in doing so, I feel as though a narrative has been strengthened by the use of light, form, presentation.

I have some titles for each image in the sequence. The sequence is very important.

Post Card of the Night

Unsteady

Untilted

Balanced

Unburdened

Unrisen

Unrising

Unreflective

Crossed

Unburdened 2

There are other images in the series that don’t necessarily fit into this as a sequence, but none the less, they’re evocative, ephemeral and ethereal images.

The technical babble

The majority of these images were shot tripod mounted, at ISOs of in the range of 6400-12800 – it was DARK. Lighting was supplied by a LED static light, our torches, and the hopes and dreams of whatever reflections were conjured from the stream.

Lenses used were a 24-70 f/2.8 and my shiny new toy, the 85 f/1.2.

Images were shot on June 1, 2025, in South Australia.

Further Thoughts

This rawer, less technically polished style of photography is ever-more about controlling and directing light, particularly in areas with no-to-low-light, and I loved the challenge of tweaking these images in post, which was merely bringing up shadows, and dropping the highlights for more contrast.

I have also added specific masks where the exposure has been increased selectively in order to bring attention to the brightest parts of the frame.

I’m really pleased with this work, and I think I want to get some of it printed for my forthcoming exhibition.

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