Julia Mather Final Book - Lux Noctis

I was inspired to do my project Lux Noctis because of my fear of the dark, and because of the love that I have for Utah’s scenery. Whenever in the dark, I usually am overwhelmed with the thought of all of the things that I cannot see, but with this series I used my camera to be my way of seeing the light in night time. In other words, “Lux Noctis” or, “Light of Night”. Growing up, I was always found hiking in state parks and in canyons with my father, and even though it slowed us down on our journeys, I loved taking my camera with me to capture the beautiful utah scenery in the daytime. But as soon as there is no more sunsets to photograph and it’s too dark to see the surroundings around me, I’m always looking for some light source or some place I can go inside.

Photographing in the dark was hard for me, but because of my love of photography and getting excited over the results of these images, I was able to work on my fear of being out in the middle of nowhere, not knowing what could be around me. Because my eyes can’t see all the light at once, my camera was my tool to be able to see what was out there with aperture and long exposure. I loved being able to take my landscape photography to a whole other level, even though it pushed me out of my comfort zone.

I hope as you enjoy these pictures, you’ll be able to see what I learned about the nighttime. That just because we can’t see all the Lux Noctis around us, doesn’t mean that we can’t find the beauty of light in darkness.