I love photography, because it is another creative field (apart from Graphic Design) which I appreciate, enjoy, and which I myself do. In photography I always ponder the question “How did he do it?”. How did he capture this special moment, or setup the scene to take this stunning photo, because unlike painting for example, or even other arts, photographic techniques and an eye to see plays an important role.
Darren Pearson is one of those photographers about whose technique I ponder. He makes complex light-effect photographs, none of which are photoshopped. Myself I have taken photos by using very slow shutter speed to capture light streaks of passing cars on a busy road at night. But Darren takes this to the next level. He paints shapes, and animals using extremely slow shutter speeds (about 30 seconds to a minute). To light-paint like this without visual guidance requires you to mentally visualize not only what you will jot next, but also your previous light strokes you did a second a go, so that when the shutter snaps you got a recognizable representation of something.
“Fly my Pretties” reveals Darren faint ghostly figure as he quickly sketches his photo. To accomplish this photograph he uses a regular flash light and quick hand. As the shutter stays open it captures more and more light slowly revealing the background. Because Darren was not wearing anything black, and a mask over his head, and gloves on his hands, he showed through. To hide yourself that you completely masquerade yourself with black.
Next time I will go out at night, I will give light-painting a try.
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