Light Graffiti is taking the UK by storm.
Well, it was last weekend when we travelled with expert Michael Bosanko trekking across the UK to brighten up landmarks in some of the UK’s biggest cities.
The technique is actually relatively unknown at the moment but we’re embracing it for our new advertising campaign and sponsorship of The X Factor.
Over just three days we visited London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle and Edinburgh. It was a busy few days to say the least, as the photography had to be done at night. Light Graffiti uses long exposure photos and different coloured torches to “draw” with light. The effect is a bit like taking a photo of a waving sparkler on bonfire night. It was incredible to see Michael at work, as he mapped out each picture in his mind before swirling torches around in the dark. The result was a fantastic series of shots which you can see on the TalkTalk site here.
The first stop was London and I have to say we had the occasional funny look! It’s hard to explain to people what you’re doing at 4am in the morning with a camera and multitude of coloured torches. Perhaps more inquisitive were the police who stopped us on several occasions to ask a few questions…all very amicable of course. I wonder if the Queen was watching when we created a shot of her outside Buckingham Palace! The most interesting stop off in London was not the bright lights of The London Eye and Big Ben but a little known open space near Nunhead cemetery in North London. You can see the whole of the London skyline from up there, perfect for creating the shot of London landmarks. More importantly it was pitch black – ideal for this type of photography as the lens stays open for several minutes. Any street light quickly floods the picture.
Next stop was Sheffield where we brightened up the Winter Gardens and Botanical Gardens with flowers drawn again just using coloured torches. These shots are some of my favourite as the colours are so sharp.
We didn’t stop there for long before continuing up north to Newcastle. Here we had the challenge of capturing The Angel of the North as the sun began to set. Luckily we had good weather and Michael was able to create some stunning shots to make the Angel look like it was on fire. Artistically they look great.
That same night we continued on to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile where we worked on creating light figures of performing artists. With the Fringe Festival just around the corner it seemed fitting to give this a go. We finished as the sun began to rise, continuing the next day to Birmingham. Here we headed to the Bull Ring to capture, of course, a light graffiti bull! The building lit up beautifully at night and gave a lovely purple glow in the final picture.
Every shot in the collection was done purely with a camera and torches. No clever touching up afterwards or light trails added in using photoshop. Take a look at the whole collection here and do let us know what you think! Also, don’t forget we’re giving people the chance to create their own video using the same technique, which we’re calling “Bright Dancing”. We’ll be giving more details on how you can get involved in this next week, so stay tuned!
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |