An amateur-photographer has dazzled the art world with his amazing light-painting pictures.
Marc Bowyer-Briggs, 33, a quality manager at a plastics firm, has only been experimenting with his using his camera at night for four years.
But he is already pushing the boundaries of light-painting – a technique in which long exposures are taken at night to track a moving hand-held light source.
Marc uses crude props such as burning wire wool spun on an extended coat hanger or a hula-hoop wrapped with electroluminescent wire to ‘paint’ graphic designs.
Marc, from Portsmouth, said that he never uses Photoshop to alter his images and sometimes has to repeat the whole process 30 times to get the right shot.
He said: ”I came across the German light-painting collective Lichtfaktor and was amazed by what I saw.
”I bought a simple digital SLR camera and started experimenting. It was encouraging because I got great results straight away.
”You begin by discovering what colour and texture of light different things produce and then try painting images.
”I enjoy exploring the city at night, and I’m always scoping out new locations.
”It’s all very well using a black background but I think using a location gives the image depth.
”It’s really all down to your imagination to turn an area into a work of art.
”People see images like these and immediately think I have used Photoshop. However, I am committed to doing everything in-camera.
”This means I sometimes have to take 20 or 30 shots of the same thing to get it right – but it’s worth it to know that it was all down to you.”
Marc hosts a photography group in Portsmouth which meets every Wednesday to walk the city streets at night armed with their cameras.
He is available for creative commissions, advertising work, commercial, editorial projects and wedding photography, go to marcbb.co.uk
