Last night I had the chance to shoot a fun shot for the Skytalks 2015 artwork.  303 coughed up contributors such as Mar (model), Night Music (Marc, Erin, Chad, Don doing pyrotechnics) with addtional assistants/watchers (Tilver, chance, Bert, BK, Feedle, Cass) and a videographer friend (David Quakenbush).  We also had four firefighters and one fire marshall supervising.

First order of business was Night Music experimenting with various forms of explosives.  They hadn't shot indoors before and we got to shoot this at a firefighters training burn house!  I didn't get great shots of this stage because nobody was allowed in the building, lest it crumble and fall on our heads in a tragic moment. After we deemed it safe to enter we took some more test shots inside.

One of my goals was to see if I could do this using the in-camera multiple exposure feature.  I actually built a second physical shutter I could attach to the end of my lens but the sizes didn't match and it created a sort of tunnel-vision that would have required me to be farther back from the shot than I'd have the luxury of doing in an enclosed building.  

So we tried the multiple exposures.  I drew the letters in the air using a Pixelstick and lit Mar with a flashlight.  Night Music set of charges in the background.  While the multiple exposure technique was close it didn't end up being the best we'd get.  After doing a set of shots with the firemen we shot another round with Mar, this time capturing individual light elements that I'd assemble in post-processing.  We got the best flame, the best body position, the best Pixelstick lettering.

So despite this not being my normal light painting way.... I present for your enjoyment this year's Skytalks 2015 artwork.  

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