Born in Kyoto in 1967, Kawakita graduated from the photography program at the Osaka University of Arts. While shooting for stock photography and publications in locations around the world, he developed a passion for urban nightscapes that has stayed with him to this day. Nighttime makes up half of each day, and Kawakita continues to shoot nightscapes energetically in various locations.
Visit the instructor's Web site, "Nightscape Times," at:
You may be thinking that nightscapes are shots taken in the dark of night, but actually a favorable time to take them is during the twilight hours just before it really starts to get dark, while there is still a little bit of light in the sky. If the sky is completely dark, buildings also start to melt away, but you don't have to worry about that if there is still a bit of light lingering. If you leave a bit early and aim to shoot from sunset through to nightscapes, you can capture various ways of expressing the same subject.
Would you be surprised if I told you that there is no set color for nightscapes? The world at night is illuminated by artificial light, the colors of which change depending on the light source. There are no strictly set colors like there are for shots taken during the daytime, so you can experiment with changing the white balance settings that you would typically use for compensation to emphasize various colors. How do you like that? You can select which setting to use based on what you like.