Rewind back to early 2015 when I was searching for a way to use my photography a bit more creatively and I stumbled on the world of Light Painting. It was a fresh feeling of discovery but I didn’t really know how I would explore it.
A couple of years earlier I had returned to Martial Arts training after a twelve-year hiatus due to an industrial accident. I had started again with my original instructor at white belt. This was a deliberate choice as I was no longer the same student, I had somewhat matured and grown as a person so my journey was going to be different, for the better.
Brainstorming a link between Light Painting and Martial Arts I remember typing these words into Google and at the top of the results was a whole bunch of art by Patrick Rochon. He was using Light Painting and movement to create his popular Light Blading Kata. This inspiration saw me build my first set of light blades and start on this journey.
Very early Light Blading
Original 2015 DIY blades with acrylic colour change
I met Patrick in 2018 in Melbourne, where he shared a technique with me called Tracing Light. It is a Light Blading technique where you create with a partner - you connect with them by following each other’s light. Their energy matches yours and vice versa as you move back and forth. The resulting image is an intertwined ‘Trace of Light’. A moment in time of connection.
Tracing Light with Patrick Rochon 2018
Also in 2018 I started capturing images at the annual Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez Martial Arts seminar held here in Adelaide and across Australia. Every year it is a pleasure to catch up with Sensei Benny. Last year over dinner we chatted about how I use Light Blading as a meditative energy flow. He was excited to learn more, so I offered to show him on his return this year.
Imagine standing in a dark alley at the back of a restaurant in southern ‘burbs of Adelaide connecting with such a legend via Light Painting…it still makes me smile.
Sensei Benny “The Jet’ Urquidez
6-time world Kickboxing champion
5-time world Karate champion
Movie Star
Stunt Coordinator
LIGHT PAINTER!
Sensei Benny in action - Martial Arts moves, American Indian chants and Light Painting
“Light connects you to other dimensions”
Patrick Rochon
With Sensei Benny- Tracing Light- right to left
With Sensei Benny- Tracing Light- left to right
This year marks eight years of Light Painting for me. 90% of my Light Blading is done in my studio and not outdoors. Studio work is where it flows, a movement that is meditative. Images created in this space are also void of distraction, only the trace of light remains.
Pure flow is a fusion between action and consciousness.
