Light in the Darkness
Here I have used over 2 Min exposures, torches, flashguns, assistants and lots of jumping up and down to create these fictional events. The images are carefully assembled from pre-conceived ideas and compositions. The illumination is intended to give the viewer a slight sense of something mystical, the simple compositions try not to distract from the colours and shadows that are revealed in the long exposures.
The resultant images have almost a spiritual quality. The fundamental differences between light and dark are most easily understood in our conscious by the age old battle of good and evil. Most mythologies, good stories, science fiction, religions and deep longings of people come from this fundamental tension. There is an inherent desire in us for the goodness or the “light” to prevail, which it does.
Some of the images see the introduction of people. These subjects find themselves in dark places, maybe depression or just surrounded by evil. The light although untamed and unfamiliar still seems somehow inviting, somehow good. There is always hope.
The process of painting with light forces me to slow the image creating process down. This gives me the opportunity to engage with the scene directly and slowly reveal my intentions. The technical need for me to keep moving to remove the “ghosting” effect of my presence on the exposure results in me madly and randomly moving around. This part of the work feels more like a performance.