Comments on: Nighthawks Behind the Lens: Interview with Troy Paiva

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:22:01 +0000

You want abandoned buildings, come to here to Detroit. You could spend the rest of your life in the city.

By: Kate H

Kate H — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:08:26 +0000

Awesome! I’ve always had a weird fascination with abandoned places, and I’ve considered doing some photography of my own. I might have to try some longer exposures and see what happens.

By: Chicago ExPat

Chicago ExPat — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:00:48 +0000

Ransom – GREAT interview… I’ve been a fan of Troy’s since I started shooting similar stuff with landscape photographer Mike Elliott (link in my name). His work is beautiful and inspiring to me.
I started night photography and urban exploration as an Army photog, but when I got out and moved to CA I did ghost town research online and found two urban explorers’ work: Troy’s site and some of your own shoots. Thanks to you both, and thank God for lax California trespassing laws. (Illinois is not so friendly about it…)

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:01:54 +0000

Oh man, Ransom. Don’t let Chris Higgins see that you incorrectly used the word literally in your post when you said “literally painting the exposure with lights”. Just joking around and being a smartass. I loved the article and Ransom Riggs is and always has been King of the Floss! Keep ‘em coming Sir!

By: Christina

Christina — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:59:14 +0000

What beautiful pictures! Too bad if I click on the picture(s) it says page not found. :(

By: Bicycle Bill

Bicycle Bill — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:34:59 +0000

“When I first started this it was all about trial and error. I took a lot of notes and experimented a lot. Then when I switched to digital in 2005 all my exposure info became obsolete and I basically had to relearn what worked and what didnâ€™t. But with the preview on the back of the camera I could simply chimp the shot until I was happy with it. This is why night photography has exploded in the digital age. Itâ€™s just much easier.”

And that’s why the earlier stuff is going to be even more respected as time goes by….although I think the epitome of night-time photography was reached by O. Winston Link with his night-time photography of Norfolk & Western steam trains back in the 1950s.
-”BB”-

By: CBD

CBD — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:43:52 +0000

I am addicted to this guy’s work now. Thank you mental_floss!

By: andy cochrane

andy cochrane — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:20:24 +0000

i have only just begun to get into long exposure photography myself, having never had access to a camera with a slow shutter before recently. this is some inspiring stuff, and i really appreciate that you got some technical details on the images instead of just posting them like most blogs would have done. you can always trust mentalfloss to do their homework!!

By: kate

kate — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:49:30 +0000

Well, that absorbed most of my morning. Thanks Ransom! Troy’s stuff is incredible!

By: mrs.djs

mrs.djs — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:00:50 +0000

Thanks R, we can always count on you for bringing us the eye candy. :D
WOW. Those are really something else. I couldn’t see them here either, but I checked out Flickr.
Looking at these photos evokes the same feeling I get when I read Stephen King.
Very impressive!!