There is no substitute for moonlight and kissing.  –  Barbara Cartland 85mm; ISO 2000. 70 seconds at f16. Flash

Artists are born kneeling; they fight to stand. Critics, by nature of the judgement seat, are born sitting.  –  Hortense Calisher (US novelist) [adapted] 50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f16. Sodium vapour light balance

There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness, but there is the discovery of joy.  –  Joyce Grenfell 28mm; ISO 2000. 192 seconds (over 3 mins) at f11

Those who wish to sing, always find a song.  –  Swedish proverb 50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f5.6

 Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine. –  Buddha (attrib.) 85mm; ISO 1000. 63 seconds at f2.5. Sodium vapour light balance

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. –  Mark Twain 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8

And the only sound that’s left / After the ambulances go Is Cinderella sweeping up / On Desolation Row.  –  Bob Dylan 28mm; ISO 2000. 68 seconds at f8

Approaching city lights, Manawatu. 7.06 pm, 6 August 2012 Fall seven times, stand up eight! –  Japanese proverb 85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f9. Incandescent light balance      

Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away – Robert M. Hutchins 28mm; ISO 2000. 20 seconds at f5.6  

Nothing is ever the same twice because everything is always gone forever, and yet each moment has infinite photographic possibilities. – Michael Kenna  28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f5.6  

28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8. Flash  

To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.  –  Joseph Addison Driving north in the early evening, I paused on a 2 km disused section of the old highway, quaint now for its narrowness and rustic one-lane bridge. The night was cold and moonless, with a constant […]

[Only the camera can express] the full majesty of the moment. –  Paul Leopold Rosenfeld Looking down on the tops of the persimmon. You can only do this on a very still night, as the slightest breeze blurs the detail. However, to get a really creative blur, you need a gusty evening – nothing in-between […]

I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.  –  Paul Simon (The Only Living Boy in New York) Still lifes by moonlight are formidable propositions because of the problems in seeing what you have, particularly with close framing and the shallow depth of field of a mild telephoto. This scene was […]

 I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.  –  Vincent van Gogh 28mm; ISO 2000. 66 seconds at f10

 At their best, photographs as symbols not only serve to help illuminate some of the darkness of the unknown, they also serve to lessen the fears that too often accompany the journeys from the known to the unknown. – Wynn Bullock 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11

 I see magic in the quiet light of dusk.  –  John  Sexton 85mm; ISO 250. 30 seconds at f16. Incandescent light balance

Photographing at night can be fascinating because we lose some of the control over what happens in front of the camera.  –  Michael Kenna  28mm, ISO 2000. 464 seconds (7 min 44 sec) at f13. Sodium vapour light balance      

High tide by moonlight, Turtle Cove, Golden Bay. 7.35 pm, 2 June 2012  The night has vast potential for creativity.  –  Michael  Kenna 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11

Daylight is too easy. What I want is difficult – the atmosphere of lamps and moonlight.     – Edgar Degas 28mm; ISO 2500. 30 seconds at f11

Ah the moon’s too bright, the chain’s too tight, the beast won’t go to sleep… – Leonard Cohen (I’m Your Man) 85mm; ISO 500. 294 seconds (5 mins) at f16  

I’ve had a lot of trouble in my life – most of which never happened.  –  Mark Twain 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f13. Flash

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.   Marcus Aurelius 28mm; ISO 2000. 15 seconds at f8. Flash

There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, as I try to do. – Anaïs Nin 50mm; ISO 2000. 15 seconds at f8. Incandescent light balance  

 The future will be better tomorrow.  –  Dan Quayle  50mm, ISO 2000. 8 seconds at f2.8. Light balance 3030 deg K