BODIES MOVE WITH BEAUTIFUL LIGHTS NOW

Light helps to define shape as it contrasts against shadow. It can also help to define motion as two Canadian photographers, Stephen Orlando and Patrick Rochon, work with it.

STEPHEN ORLANDO

Orlando is fascinated by bodies in motion. He captures their movements, played out in a variety of sports, as they trail light during his long-exposure shots.

Orlando’s background is in engineering and aerodynamics. He is interested in analyzing and measuring fluid flow. He uses a custom Arduino-based rig that lets him program the color and pattern of the LEDs.

Like a contemporary spin on Edward Muybridge’s series of bodies-in-motion photography, Orlando’s works evoke a poetry as lights dance across his film.

Orlando uses programmable LED light sticks attached to the bodies of his subjects as they work at playing tennis and soccer, as they paddle kayaks and canoes, as they move through water, swimming.

They carve out fluid shapes in repetitive patterns, that can only be seen as they are captured on film, dragging light across the open eye of his camera which is slow to blink.

PATRICK ROCHON

Patrick Rochon, another Canadian photographer, paints bodies in motion with light in his own way. He believes that our bodies emit light.

Using only long single exposure techniques, without any post production, Rochon “paints” vivid ethereal pieces that show how athletes carve through air and water as they move.

Rochon created a magnificent series of images with wakeboarders looping through the night.

His last series of nudes, titled Nudes, Eroticism and the Invisible took several years to accomplish as he experimented along the way, using light to expose the naked human body even more.

He often works with black backgrounds and empty space. He keeps his lights and the camera close to him as he works, picking them up and moving them around in changing rhythms. Music is an important part of his process.

Rochon uses a combination of digital cameras and manual lenses. He works with Kinoflos, Klarus, and LED lighting. And most importantly, he constantly and continuously experiments to see where he can push the boundaries of beautiful lights next.

Read more about Beautiful Lights, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink,Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Extraordinary Lighting Designs to Delight you Now, Beautiful New Sky Lights are Happening Right Now, Beautiful Lights to Eat & Drink Now, Beautiful Lights Make Mind-Blowing Art Now and 10 Beautiful Lights Festivals Around the World Now.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Lights in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 12.21.2014. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: by Stephen Orlando. Kayak Motion.
2. Photo: by Stephen Orlando. Whitewater Kayak Motion.
3. Photo: by Stephen Orlando. Karate Motion.
4. Photo: by Stephen Orlando. Swimming Motion.
5. Photo: by Stephen Orlando.Tennis Motion.
6. Photo: by Stephen Orlando. Whitewater Kayak Motion.
7. Photo: by Patrick Rochon. Wakeboarding Motion.
8. Photo: by Patrick Rochon. Wakeboarding Motion.
9. Photo: by Patrick Rochon. Photo from Nudes, Eroticism, and the Invisible Series.
10. Photo: by Patrick Rochon. Behind the Scenes of Patrick Rochon Light Painting Workshop.
11. Photo: by Patrick Rochon. Chrysalide.
12. Photo: by Patrick Rochon. Wakeboarding Motion.
13. Photo: by Patrick Rochon. Photo from Nudes, Eroticism, and the Invisible Series.