So, I'm not exactly what you would call "outdoorsy." After seeing a roach in my freshman dorm room, I immediately booked a night in a hotel, and I may or may not have had a minor panic attack when an impending thunderstorm loomed over a hike in a foreign country. When coerced into camping last summer, I brushed my teeth with Gatorade to avoid the communal sink labeled "pond water: do not swallow."
Although I've never apologized for my nature-phobic ways, I often feel like I'm missing out on something. There are so many indescribable moments and breathtaking scenes that us city-dwellers will never witness. That's why I'm so enamored of these works from photographer Michael Schnabel. All of these pictures were taken at night...we're so used to seeing mountains by daylight that I feel like their grandeur is lost in a way. Seeing them by night is much more captivating, when everything looks so still and peaceful.
Schnabel often captures common scenes after hours -- museums, waterscapes and cities. Something about seeing things by night makes you feel like you've been let in on a little secret, a part of life that only a select few will ever see. Check out his Web site for more in this series, in addition to his more commercial works.