Without realising it, 2024 for me has been the year of the light beam. Earlier this year, I bought an Olight Marauder Mini flashlight with its powerful 7000 lumen light and the ability to focus a beam of light. It has quickly become my favoured torch in the dark.
This is a post of images I have shot this year. Many more shots with this light to follow!
Beam me up Scotty!
I'm not one for posing in my own lightpainting images but when you get exceptional fog conditions such as this and you're on your own, it would be rude not to stand and pose holding the beam aloft.
Take me to your leader
This was the result of a couple of nights experiments where on the first night I worked out the lighting and the wrinkles. Then on the second night, with an extra pair of eyes helping to line up the lighting to a greater accuracy than I do on my own, we nailed this on the 2nd attempt.
It's so accurate I've been waiting for someone to accuse me of using AI to make this. I can assure the reader here that no such AI nonsense was used no Photoshop either! All in camera!
Olight Nights
When I bought the Olight Marauder Mini, this was the shot I had in mind:
A levitating experience
Taking advantage of a conveniently placed plinth amongst these concrete structures, no levitation was involved in the making of this photo! Just copious amounts of smoke pellets...
Stranger Ting
From another night in a favourite lightpainting haunt, Padley Gorge, with a beam of light and a couple of gelled flashguns.
Friday night in Sherwood Forest
I consider myself lucky to live right next to the famous and infamous Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. It's literally only a mile or so from my house.
So it would be rude not to venture in to the forest with a backpack full of lights and knock out a quick shot like this. I quite like creating the sense of scale with a small figure and massive trees.
Run and Gun in Sherwood Forest
As we wandered down this lane in the dark to get further in to Sherwood Forest, a bank of fog rolled in. It would have been rude not to do a quick run and gun photo taking advantage of the epic atmosphere created by the mist.
Wild Bore in the Woods
I bought a new stash of smoke grenades only to find I didn't need them with enough vapour in the air to create the background separation.
A different kind of beam
This was an experiment with a laser level device which casts a single horizontal or vertical line for use by surveyors. It turns out the laser lever makes a great lightpainting tool. I have found that if I turn the level off axis from the camera, the beam becomes wider. I plan to do more with the laser level sometime soon!
So it turns out, I am the The Fifth Element!
These concrete pillars were part of a mining structure carrying ore down a hill but left abandoned years ago. The pillars' shape were reminiscent of the stones from the movie, The Fifth Element. It weirdly didn't occur to me at first but once I saw the resemblance, I added myself in as the fifth.
Messianic Tendencies
This is more or less the same set up as the above image but with a less focussed beam. I promise the reader I don't have messianic tendencies but if such a being existed, this is most likely what I'll be expecting haha.
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex, landscape and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; the social side of photography is always good!
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