Night Photography
(And Black and White Photography)
By Ellie Race
Darren Pearson
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Darren Pearson is a well-known light painter and has been doing it now for four years. His work demonstrates complicated patters and shapes and he creates a number of animals within the light. Darren has a passion of painting dinosaurs, he believes that it fits well with his surroundings and mingles well into urban and suburban areas. He thinks that the best time to shoot is during the full moon. Darren is able to create people and objects with light, he uses his backgrounds to not just put his images on, but to also engage with the light itself. An example of this is below, a person riding on a real horse statue. Darren is good at using every day things that we walk past on a day-to-day basis and turning them into interesting and unique pieces of photography and art. I know that I wont be able to create images like these the first time round and that I need to research into different techniques, but I hope to create an object that can and is recognised, as well as interesting and unique to look at. The work that Darren does it usually limited to the colour white and I think that when shooting my work I will copy this in a similar approach. Something that is totally different about Darren’s images is the diversity he manages to include, his locations are usually very different and to keep the creative flare alive I hope to do this also. I think that staying in one place offers to many limitations of the work that can be produced. Moving locations would also give me the chance to experiment with different light intensities that come with different outdoor areas.
Out of all the work that Darren Pearson has created, I have decided to further analyse the piece of work above - the octopus by the sea. His use of location is smart and creative, yet it still matches the light painting of the octopus. Something that I have taken from looking at this image is the importance of using a tripod when light painting. The reason this is so important is because of the long exposure used, and if not used, blurred images will be the result. This particular image I like, it has an interesting asymmetrical composition. The image is also starkly different to Darren’s other pieces of work involving, dinosaurs and other creatures, because the sky is not exactly dark but not quite day. By doing this, it adds mystery to the atmosphere and overall quality to the image. I think the reason Darren chose this time of the day was to experience some of the more toned down and cool colours that he is not able to work will when it is extremely dark. By choosing to do this image asymmetrical he is not only able to show off the intricate details of the octopus, but also the beautiful backdrop. Purposefully and masterfully choosing his objects, Darren creates something that is almost alien looking and certainly interesting.
The second image I feel needs to be looked at further is the image above of the skeleton type angle. The background lighting is extremely colourful and bold, and is a big contrast to the white light used to paint the subject of the image. Darren shows a very strong understanding of contrast throughout all of his images. This particular image is a very good example of my point. The composition of this image would be considered asymmetrical as the subject is not exactly on centre. Again Darren allows the surrounding area to be a large part of the image and he manipulates his surroundings so that they only make his images gain quality. At deeper thought of the skeleton angle, the atmosphere is somewhat dark and sinister. However the colours used totally juxtapose that point, as they are red and pink – holding connotations of love. Something that you gain from light painting is the lack of shadows from your subject. Because the light painting is not an actual object and 2D in real life, there are no shadows to take away from the mystical mood the images create. Something that I plan on taking away from Darren Pearson’s work is the use of asymmetrical composition. At first I thought it would be best to make the light the focal point of my image, but after reviewing Darren’s work, I have realized the correct location can add just as much to an image.