Tracing Light

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.



**Light Blading is a form of Light Painting where acrylic/plexi or glass is attached to a light source and used to create unique ‘ribbons’ of light, captured during long exposure photography.

Chasing Rainbows - Merops ornatus

Having an appreciation for nature allows me to understand the beauty and complexity that surrounds us in the natural world. Sitting still, observing and capturing images of these moments allows me to gain a deeper connection to nature and this process has become a form of meditation for me.

I have never purposely gone birding before, interactions with nature have always been somewhat accidental and a fleeting moment of two paths crossing. These interactions are sometimes captured if I have my camera…

One little bird has fascinated me for several years, twice managing a fleeting glimpse in the wild, both times without my trusty camera. They are fast! Like little colourful bullets, and with both previous sightings it was their sudden flight that alerted my to their presence.

I knew I had to capture some images of these… eventually.

This passion for nature sees me following several wildlife photographers from around the world. Imagine my joy when one of these guys announced 'Bee-Eater Sessions’. It was local, it was soon...I was in!

The session was early morning. Alarm set for 3am, out the door for the 45 minute drive, and meeting on a dirt road in the Barossa Valley at 5am.

A quick briefing and invaluable chat about Bee-Eater behaviour, and it was off to get set up in the individual purpose-built bird hides.

Set up near a couple of nests, they are there to allow us to be relatively close without any disturbance to the birds at all.

Set up and focused on a nearby perch, it was time to sit back and wait. The anticipation and excitement was high. I knew that this was it; it was time to tick off this wonderful bird from my bucket-list and hopefully capture some sharp images. I had to relax a bit and just breath.

We were all set up and in the hides before the Rainbows became active. It didn’t take long. I was sitting, knowing my camera was focused and ready to go, my eyes shut and in a relax mode, just waiting…’click, click, click click’ it was the familiar shutter sound coming from the fella in the next hide. The rainbows were out…

 
 

Quickly hearing and learning the patterns of the individual birds, we spent the next few hours capturing several birds coming back to the nest to feed their young. What a morning! What a great experience!

Soon enough it was time to exit the hide, leaving these little wonders to go about their day. I was on a high.

Thank you to the property owner for allowing access and to Craig for organising this experience. If you are a wildlife and nature lover like me, check out Craig’s website here - http://craiggreer.com/