"The Salt & Brick"

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

Neil Thacker is best known as a landscape and nature photographer but decided a couple of months ago to take his art in a new direction.

“With the dark nights happening really early, I switched to shooting around town after dark which turned out to work really well,” he told iNFOnews.ca. “I’ve been taking it in the direction of an art piece rather than just a straightforward photo and that’s where the reaction has been really positive. I was actually surprised with how well they’ve gone over.”

"Streetlights And Foggy Nights" Thacker wrote about this photo: "Another from my rainy night shoot a couple of days ago. I really liked the way the fog gave an eerie glow to the scene.”

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

He's mounting and selling the photos at Picture Perfect, the custom framing shop where he’s the master framer and manager.

He now has more than 100 images of small businesses, like corner stores, that stand out as a beacon of light in an otherwise very black night.

Others show streetscapes exposed through a shutter that stays open anywhere from three to 30 seconds.

It’s got to the point where he’s considering traveling to Penticton and Vernon to expand his portfolio and, ultimately, to produce a book.

His Canon 60D full frame camera has the technology to gauge the exposure time for him.

"The Fish and Chip Shop"

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

Some photographers will take multiple exposures of a scene and use Photoshop to blend the various exposures to create the perfect image.

“I don’t do that,” Thacker said. “I shoot it in one shot.”

He only took four pictures of the Shady Rest Fish and Chip store, for example, mostly to make sure he got one with the right exposure.

“Sometimes you pull up to a spot and the scene just tells you exactly what you should be doing,” Thacker said. “There is no other option. Sometimes, just looking at it, you know what’s going to work.”

His images are posted on his Facebook page, here.

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"Waiting In The Truck" Thacker wrote this about the photo. “An image from last night captured after work. This is the Knox Mountain Market, a small convenience store that has been in operation for many years and has the character that I look for in a location. An interesting look, on a quiet street, close to the road. I was thinking how I wished the sign was on when the owner came out and politely asked what I was doing. It seems a staff member saw me standing on the street with my camera and tripod and told him. Can't say I blamed her for thinking a guy standing out front in the dark wasn't suspicious. The owner and I talked and I showed him some of my night images on my phone and he mentioned that the sign was due to be fixed and working sometime next week. I mentioned that I will come back and shoot the scene again then and he was in full agreement and seemed happy that someone thought the store was interesting enough to photograph.”

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

"Roadside Convenience" is one of Thacker's favourites in the series. He wrote: “I tried to capture this corner store on my drive home last night, but the sign on the building was off. Tonight I was happy to see it had been turned on and, in between the constant traffic passing by, I was able to get the image that I had hoped for.”

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

"Full Moon City Lights"

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

"Abandoned"

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

"Pizza,Music & Beer"

Image Credit: Facebook/Neil Thacker

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