INTO THE

LIGHTTHE ART OF LIGHT GRAFFITI

CHARM MAGAZINE | 32

LIGHTT

The art of light painting is amongst the final

visual frontiers of human creativity. It requires

precise photographic skill, carefully choreographed

performance and a wild imagination. Light graffiti as

an art is not yet a century old, a discipline born from

photographic mistakes and years of experimentation.

Just how good can light painting get? Light painting

is a photographic technique in which exposures are

made by moving a hand-held light source or by moving

the camera. The term light painting also encompasses

images lit from outside the frame with hand-held light

sources. Light Painting Photography can be traced

back to the year 1914 when Frank Gilbreth, along

with his wife Lillian Moller Gilbreth, used small lights

and the open shutter of a camera to track the motion

of manufacturing and clerical workers. Man Ray, in

his 1935 series “Space Writing,” was the first known

art photographer to use the technique and Barbara

Morgan began making light paintings in 1940.

By moving the light source, the light can be used to

selectively illuminate parts of the subject or to “paint” a

picture by shining it directly into the camera lens. Light

painting requires a slow shutter speed, usually a second

or more. Light painting can take on the characteristics of

a quick pencil sketch. In 1949 Pablo Picasso was visited

by Gjon Mili, a photographer and lighting innovator,

who introduced Picasso to his photographs of ice skaters

with lights attached to their skates. Immediately Picasso

started making images in the air with a small flashlight

in a dark room. This series of photos became known as

Picasso’s “light drawings.”

Light painting by moving the camera, is the

antithesis of traditional photography. At night, or in

a dark room, the camera can be taken off the tripod

and used like a paintbrush. An example is using the

night sky as the canvas, the camera as the brush and

cityscapes (amongst other light sources) as the palette.

Putting energy into moving the camera by stroking

lights, making patterns and laying down backgrounds

can create abstract artistic images.

Here is Charm Magazine’s collection of 10 excellent

light graffiti artists from around the world, dating back

to the days of Picasso and times more recent. So grab

a flashlight and prepare to experience the best light

painting the world has to offer.

INTO THE LIGHT / /

The multi-disciplinary graphic artist and designer Taylor

Pemberton has tried his own hand at light graffiti, and

the resulting images are stunning. Much of Pemberton’s

work with light painting is rooted in traditional graffiti,

as the swirls and curves of his flashlight reflect the

pieces shown on walls in cities throughout the world.

This next gen graffiti is set in abandoned places where

concrete, steel and a sense of decay frame these brilliant

shapes of light.

Taylor Pemberton

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One of the 20th century’s greatest artists was quite

adept with light painting himself. The great Pablo

Picasso experimented with light painting in his later

days. Picasso stood in front of the camera, armed with

a flashlight, and traced his style of imagery in the air

before the shutter slammed shut. The result was an

illuminating set of photos set of photos that show the

artist at work - a wild set of set of self portraits where

this famed painter shared the focal point with his art.

Pablo Picasso

The French calligrapher and graphic artist Julien Breton has

extneded his calligraphy into the world of photography and

light. Julien Breton’s Light Calligraphy is unerringly precise, a

collection of Arabic inspired characters that come alive in the set

for Compagnie Cortex, a french dance crew. As light graffiti is as

much about photography as it is about performance, Breton’s

collaboration with this dance crew is representational of the

nature of this art form. The dancers hold their pose, the lights

are set and Breton outlines their forms with light calligraphy

before the shutters close.

Julien Breton

Unerringly precise, a collection of Arabic-inspired characters that come alive.”

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TCBTCB, the artist also known as Twin Cities Brightest, creates some

of the most vivid and complex light graffiti we’ve seen. The lines

within TCB‘s light graffiti are flawless, unbroken ribbons of light

that weave into complicated shapes and patterns. TCB is quite

prolific with his light painting and light graffiti, an artist whose

body of work most certainly deserves a close look.

INTO THE LIGHT / /

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Lightmark

Lightmark Light Painting by Cenci Goepel and Jens Warnecke

focus more on minimal shapes within nature than outright light

graffiti. Their light designs appear to be a part of the environ-

ment, organic shapes that fit within the context of nature. Light

spheres within snowy fields, stalks of light above waterfalls and

subtle forms on water are amongst some of their better designs.

Their light painting may not be inspired by graffiti, but the in-

troduction of alien light into the natural world leaves their own

mark in this imagery.

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The photographers and performance artists Joerg Miedza and

JanLeonardo Woellert are the creative minds behind LAPP

Pro, a crew that has experimented with the full gamut of light

painting. LAPP Pro’s secret is both the setting and the tools

with which they create these amazing images. Sparks fly into

the night air, spheres of light form in desolate places, and shapes

converge around the artists themselves as they take part in

these photographs. Throughout the years of their light painting

experiments, many visually stunning works have been created.

Lapp Pro

Sparks fly into the night air, spheres of light form in desolate places, and shapes converge around the artists themselves.”

INTO THE LIGHT / /

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Lichtfaktor‘s work is unparalleled in the world of light

graffiti, where urban environments meet a form of light-

based architecture that merge into amazing imagery. While

we loved the Lichtfaktor London Light Graffiti before, the

group’s full body of work is entirely impressive, even featured

on magazine covers and advertisements in ultimate style.

Beyond the teaser gallery below, a long look at Lichtfaktor’s

work is required to understand just how brilliant light graffiti

can be.

The light graffiti artist known as Sola has produced a wide,

colorful and bright range of light graffiti that must be seen

to be believed. By that, we mean that his work may appear

to be manipulated, but the images are untouched after the

camera shutter closes. Sola has weaved an impressive number

of light graffiti images, ranging from swirls and shapes on

urban backgrounds to intricate graffiti patterns with wild

backgrounds.

Lichtfaktor

Sola Light

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Michael Bosanko is a photographer who’s taken on light

painting in a series called “We Come in Peace”, in which figures

made of light seem to interact with their surroundings in a way

that’s comical, fun and highly engaging. The series features

giant spiders crawling down a highway, “alien” rocks gathering

around a central “spaceship”, a light figure skateboarding on a

ramp and another hitchhiking on the side of a road.

Michael Bonsanko

INTO THE LIGHT / /

“ The art of light

painting is amongst the

final visual frontiers

of human creativity. ”

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Toby Keller of Burn Blue Photography has himself experimented

with light graffiti, in forms that share inspiration in the work of

artists like Lightmark and Pemberton, shown above. Keller’s

canvas is nature– the quiet, sandy beaches of Santa Barbara and

brick ruins elsewhere, onto which he paints bright, vivid forms of

light. The result is entirely natural, where the patterns of light

appear to be a part of the environment around them.

Toby Keller

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