The past several years as a photographer, I have always focused on pure documentary. I love the idea of telling peoples lives and stories. Even as a trained Combat Cameraman, I tend to always reveal the truths of what goes on around me, behind my camera.
However, I always love the idea of how to push myself and how to really change my perception of the things around me. One of my weakest areas is night photography. I have always struggled with it and as I grow older, my night vision isn’t that great anymore.
Last night a friend named Arthur Marqueez and I, pushed out creativeness and went on a night shoot. He has this great idea to work with long exposure and reflections of the water ponds by the beach. Instead of using lights and flashlights to write with the light, he brought in the concept of using steel wool to fire to light up the night sky. When we tried our first image, I was instantly high. We began to try different angles and different settings. With the ocean as the backdrop and the water reflection from the rocks, the images captured so much more. The steel wool, when lite, sheds light embers that just flick off into the air. It was amazing!!! I finally loved this new found idea of night photographer!!!! I am still in amazement and can not wait to do this again!
WARNING: Please do not do this alone. This can be dangerous and if not handled properly, can set fires. Make sure to have an extinguisher and water around incase of emergency. Make sure to use a tripod when trying this as well. Gloves are also a key and eye protection!
Enjoy the images!!! This will not be the last post!
diBenedetto Photography 