Ojito Wilderness 1 Print

Drawn to and inspired by dark and dramatic movies, this photo series reflects the admiration for filmmakers but also shows the dedication to a rare photographic technique. While the full moon with its unique hue turns the scene into an eerie environment, the light painting reveals some quite unexpected details and brings back some warmth. Carefully scouted locations and an obsession to details are the recipe to create these art pieces. But what exactly is Light Painting? It was more or less by accident that I rediscovered light painting 20 years ago. Back in the good old film days professional photographers rarely used this technique, because you could go through many rolls of film and still couldn’t be sure you got the image as you imagined it. To create a light painting the camera needs to be on a sturdy tripod and while the shutter is open, you would walk around with a handheld flashlight and carefully “paint” parts of the scene. It all comes down to how to apply the light. Light has almost unlimited flavors: It can be warm or cold, soft or hard, small or large, intense or dime, direct or indirect, close or far. Learning and understanding light truly is a lifelong journey - it took me many years of trial and error before I understood how to apply light to a light painting. Today I use mainly DIY light modifiers to shape the light and different small handheld lights. Since all of my light paintings are done during a full moon night, I only have a few nights per month where I can create those images. The most amazing part of this technique is that it can’t be duplicated - to recreate the same look and feel of a light painting is almost impossible.