LIGHTPAINTING

Sloane Bibb creates multimedia art using a wide array of materials, from old magazines' cutouts to speedometers, old car parts to you-name-it. In this image, he's seen with his latest work-in-progress.



Some days ago, I was reading in Jim Richardson's blog the behind-the scenes, or "making-of", of his photographs for the story about the Hebrides islands published in the February issue of National Geographic. When I saw the images in the magazine several weeks before, I thought he had used strobes in his picture of the stones of Callanish. Instead, he writes in his blog, he used the technique known as "painting with light." Then I said to myself, "dude, you haven't painted with light since that assignment for Rita Reed's class in 2006!" Suddenly, I felt the urge of doing some lightpainting as soon as I found a subject that lend itself to this technique. Little I knew that, on the very next day, I'd have the opportunity to do it. One of my assignments for that day was to photograph a Decatur artist who was having a solo exhibit in Santa Fe, NM. I didn't know anything about him and had no time to research before going to the photo shoot. But when I arrived at the warehouse where he works and saw all the cool things he does, but arranged (or, I should say, "disarranged") in absolute chaotic fashion, it dawned on me: if I could sort of isolate all the clutter by pointing light at specific things, I would get something more interesting and, even more, I could portray an artist by using an "artistic" technique. Went back to the car to get a tripod and a flashlight (or "torch" for those more familiar with the British term) and arranged the scene. The selected frame was my fourth and final attempt. I wish I'd had more time to perfect the portrait, but Sloane had to leave to pick someone up, and I reluctantly settled with whatever I had. Thanks to Sloane for playing along and not moving or breathing for 15 seconds, and thanks to his 6-year-old son, Calwell, for turning the lights on and off. Also thanks to great photographers like Jim Richardson who lead the way and, by sharing their knowledge with the rest of mortals, inspire and teach us.

For those with technical curiosity: this is a 15-second exposure, f/6.3, ISO 100 and focal length of 31 mm.