Light Painter Introduction - Hugo Babtista - Interview Series #03
The lightpainting community is small and spread all over the world. A close association, which is perceived far too little in the world of photography. We want to change this. In order to bring you some artists closer, we asked some active artists to introduce themselves and to answer a few questions about light painting and their relation to it. To introduce you first to who is involved in the "Lightpainters United" project, we start our interview series with our curators.
- Hugo Babtista -
01. Please introduce yourself shortly. Name, Age and where you from etc.
My name is Hugo Baptista. I’m 41 years old. I was born is South Africa but moved to Portugal when I was 5 years old. In 1999 I decided to emigrate to The Netherlands, The Hague where I currently live.
02. How and why did you start Light Painting?
I was introduced to the core principles of photography at my school EPCI in Portugal where I was studying audio-visual techniques in 1994. They allowed students to take a camera home and I remember immediately being fascinated with long exposures. I tried a few zoom bursts, camera tosses, starry skies, traffic trails. I didn’t even have a tripod. But at the time I was still more interested in 3D animation and video production and as I got a job in the Netherlands at the time in a 3D animation studio, my creative juices were being used there more than on photography. I did continue taking photos all the time but more for timelapses, HDR’s etc. did attempt to do some light painting in 2004 and was aware of potential for more but my interest lay in computer graphics at the time. It wasn’t until 2010 when I found the lightjunkies group in Flickr that I decided to give it another go. It was an eye opener to see such amazing works of pure photographic art being made, often with very few resources. Great passion. The community was amazing and very supportive. My motivation to embrace light painting forever, grew because of the community, and still continues to grow.
03. What means Light Painting for you? What is your motivation? What drives you?
To me light painting is a way to create an alternate reality, a Hyper-reality if you will. It’s a way to transform reality with light and motion in a way that allows me to compose from scratch what I want to see in a photo. I can bend light, reflect, refract, occlude, diffuse, mix different materials, all to achieve interesting new colors shapes and textures.
The end result of a more abstract session may be several light painting photos that can be interpreted as eye candy devoid of meaning. And that’s perfectly fine as I love eye candy even if devoid of meaning. But light painting is more than that. It’s a meditative process to me. It’s counting steps, it’s controlling breathing, it’s being aware of motion, being in the present time and feeling the space. I feel meaning and emotion in even my more abstract works but I rather let the viewer find his/her own interpretation. Sometimes I like to give hints to my interpretation through the title but usually I like to know what it evokes in the viewer:
When I’m light painting in the great outdoors I sometimes just sit down, appreciate the darkness, breathe fresh air, hear the sounds and smell the environment. When I’m feeling comfortable and acquainted with the scene I then spend a long time setting up the camera, getting the right composition. Then I start by creating several distinct elements. I add or remove a few until I’m happy with whatever combo of elements I decide to use and perform all the steps to achieve them in a single exposure. Sometimes to be sure I keep repeating the end result just because it’s so satisfying and one never knows what jewel may be uncovered if I just keep on trying to perfect it.
04. What gear do you always carry with you?
Depends on what I want to do but I do tend to carry way more than I end up using. Essentials are camera, tripod, lights, self-built of otherwise. Most essential of all tools and sometimes illusive are the gears in my head when they inspire me to create outstanding work even with few resources.
05. What was your most memorable Lightpainting experience, event or moment?
That time when I was dressed in a golden cloth illuminating myself with a rather bright light and someone thought they saw a ghost and left the scene in terror.
06. Who or what inspires you?
I have five senses if not more, constantly being bombarded by images, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings… (even though some consider feelings not to be a sense but anyway) All of those inputs inspire me. Some inputs reverberate more than others. The brain of an artist is a like a selective sponge, constantly creating something new from a combination of things that we selectively absorbed throughout our daily lives. In that sense I think inspiration is an internal process of deciding what I think affected me the most based on my experiences and my personality. That what affects me can be a myriad of things: not necessarily only other artists. I think physics, nature, spirituality, friendship, love, hate, a pretty piece of glass, life, death. They’re all inspiring.
08. What is going to be the next Light Painting Tool you build or buy?
I’m happy with what I have right now. actually not really... I have a huge shopping list but am too poor to consider any more right now. Besides, I think there’s still plenty of new exciting work to be made with my ghetto tools. There’re still a few projects in the drawer and I still have to use some prototypes I haven’t even tested yet.. so, no buying or building for the time being.
09. What is your workflow?
My workflow is to first work on my flow, and only when the flow is right, flow on my work. I sometimes have definite ideas of what I want to create but just as often I’m willing to change my mind mid-session because I believe there should be no boundaries to creativity not even my own preconceptions of what a shot should look like. That’s why I never sketch plans on a piece of paper, also perhaps because I like to mostly work alone so I don’t have to communicate the plans to anyone. I just have to remember the steps to materialize the vision in my head. Sometimes they turn out like I envisaged, other times I’m not happy and continue trying alternatives until I find something possibly even more exciting.
10. Do you have 3 Lightpainters you would like to have a colaboration with?
The father the son and the holy ghost or any other divine trinity. RGB comes to mind. They’re the best light painters. when they come together it’s just so pure and bright. Seriously.. there are too many I would like to collaborate or at least get to know better but to name only three would do injustice to all the others I didn’t mention.
11. What are your best or most favourite 3 pictures?
Another 3 favorites question. Tricky as always because there are different periods in my work with what feels like too many different styles to choose from. They reflect my mood at the time I made them and the mood I’m in now choosing them from thousands of possible choices. Also I change my mind about what I consider beautiful or worthwhile in my own work all the time. But here’s my current attempt at 3 favorites:
12. What is your favorite Light Painting you have ever created.
What could be worse than having to choose 3 favorites? Choosing 1 favorite!! this is going to give me nightmares... but here it is:
13. What is your favorite environment to shoot in?
In the great outdoors is the most gratifying but a studio is more convenient. Also depends on what I want to create. Can’t fit a true scale tree and lake in my studio unfortunately… would be cool though :)
14. What are your favorite type of light paintings to create and why?
The ones that give me a happy feeling when I look at the result. Why? Because I love happy feelings. The type of technique, light, motion, location etc is secondary to the feeling I get when I see something I’m very happy with and that can vary wildly.
15. What is your favorite part about the Light Painting Art Form?
It’s hands down the most satisfying creative expression out there. It can involve many disciplines if you delve deep into it. It’s also challenging to keep innovating and that makes it even better. Like a never ending puzzle that keeps growing in possibility as each new puzzle piece finds its place as a work of art. And that’s not even mentioning the therapeutic, balancing, life changing experience it can deliver.
17. What did you do before getting into light painting?
My career has been mostly in computer graphics, 3D architectural visualizations, video production and general animation and photo work.
18. What inspires and defines your creative style in light painting?
I already talked about what inspires me but I would define my style as oddball, experimental, irreverent. Sometimes classic tendencies other times total and utter chaos but always searching for something new even if apparently walking in beaten paths.
19. What vision do you have for the future of light painting?
Bright and colorful
20. Anything you would like to add?
World peace
Thanks for taking the time for the interview and the inspiration mate.
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