Light Painting Photographer Janne Parviainen Gets Published in National Geographic! Check out this little interview we did to find out how it happened! Gooooooo Janne!

LPP ∇ So you must be freaking out, I know I am for you! Your Light painting work published in National Geographic, tell me how this happened? Did you submit the image or did they find you somehow?

JP ∇ Yeah, I’m pretty stunned to have my photo featured in the NG, I could say it’s one of my dreams come true! The weirdest part is that I didn’t even submit the photo, the editor of the magazine just contacted me and asked if they could use the photo! I must’ve read the email ten times before I understood it was true! My light painting photos were featured in www.thisiscolossal.com, Petapixel, and Gizmodo at the time and the editor had seen them in there.

LPP ∇ Thats insane! Did the editor ask for a specific image to represent an article they were writing or is your light painting published for it being a light painting?

JP ∇ The editor asked for a specific photo for the Visions of Earth section in the magazine. The Visions of Earth represents three photographs around the world each month. The photo they asked for first isn’t actually the photo that is published in the magazine. I received the first email in August 2012 and when I hadn’t received any news from the magazine in three months or so I sent them one of my newer light paintings which they liked and after that wanted to see yet another of my photos which is the one printed in the magazine.

LPP ∇ What did you do when you were first contacted?

JP ∇ When they contacted me I was euphoric! I had had a really bad day and was on a really sour mood, but when I got home I checked my emails from my phone and couldn’t believe my eyes! The day instantly became better after that!

LPP ∇ I would say so! What did you do when you got the printed issue?

JP ∇ When I got the printed issue I even showed the photo to the cashier at the store, I was so excited!

LPP ∇ Ha, you couldn’t wait for them to send your copies, So how did you celebrate?

JP ∇ I celebrated the event by buiyng a nice bottle of British wheat beer! 🙂

LPP ∇ This is so awesome, congratulations again Janne its well deserved for all your innovation and dedication to light painting!

JP ∇ Thank you.

Light Painting artist Rezine 69 has put out a book called Freehand’z. He has been working with light for more than 10 years, I recently caught up with Rez to talk about his new book that shows off some innovative and imaginative images like these…

LPP ∇ For those that may not know your work whats your name and/or alias?

R69 ∇ I m REZINE 69, (crew graffiti AOC, EP , LOTUS , KS)

LPP ∇ Do you work alone or with a crew?

R69 ∇ I work alone but I make collaborations with other artist and photographers, it depends on the project. I worked with G.Plisson for the my first book LIGHTGRAFF exit in 2007 with the Parisian editor GRAFF IT productions and collaboration with Marko 93, Kalaam , Hassan Massoudy , DETER on 2 years.

I worked with Daniel Schweizer on an advertising project for Heineken I have worked with Vichy, with Olivier Passerat, and Break Dancers. I also did a Collaboration With Pokemon crew (world Champion)

LPP ∇ How long have you been light painting?

R69 ∇ I have been lightpainting since 1999 and say more lightgraff, like an occupation of decor. I made light paintings when I worked in studio and created all the images.

LPP ∇ How did you discover light painting?

R69 ∇ It was the photographer Axel Card who showed me the technique. We worked together for 3 years on the light graph in the factory and in the city of Lyon. The first photo of my second book Freehandz light painting.

LPP ∇ Tell me about your new book Freehand’z, what is it all about?

R69 ∇ It s like a retrospective selection of images,“Freehand’z” presents more 10 years of experimentations of light photography, combining multiple disciplines such as calligraphy, graffiti and some innovative projection technics pushing the limits of this booming photographic art form, producing compositions of a rare choregraphic complexity and a breathtaking aesthetic.

LPP ∇ Are there any tutorials or light painting tips in the book?

R69 ∇ Not really, I try to discovered the new ways to use this technique. I used a videoprojector for the last part Mixmedias. I think its more interesting to discovered the materials that are a important part of the technique too.

LPP ∇ Your work has a very unique style to it, what drew you to this style of light painting?

R69 ∇ My work is a combination of calligraphy, 3D graffiti, technological, and architectural elements which aims to convey the concept of “mutation”, calling upon the viewer to immerse himself in a parallel consciousness and relationship to the world. I have been particularly inspired by surrealism in the sense that one thing can compose another and futurist concepts. My work deals with the notion of transformation of men and nature by the continuous scientific and technologic progress in a consumerist society lead by mass media and advertising. These elements combine to allow for a progressive reading of the image, dependent upon the viewer’s position in relation with the photography. A letter can comprise characters within buildings within which characters are also illustrated, who can themselves compose a faces.

LPP ∇ So now that your book is out there, What are you working on?

R69 ∇ Now Im working on a project with Swit lightgraff for museum, events, and exhibitions.

LPP ∇ Cant wait to see it, thanks for the time. Your images are insane!

Click here to check out some more images and the new light painting book FreeHand’z.

Suck on that Nikon…. ok now relax just kidding Nikon is awesome too, but Canon has developed a new sensor that can basically see in the dark. This beast can take the light from the moon and make it look like the middle of the day. Its not like the old green night vision, the images that this super light sensitive sensor can capture are pretty damn clear and very impressive. It says it was developed for DSLR video work but its got to be great for capturing the stars in you still images as well. Think of the new ways that you can capture and document your light painting work with this new sensor technology! Pretty Awesome. Below is the info direct from Canon.

TOKYO, March 4, 2013—Canon Inc. announced today that the company has successfully developed a high-sensitivity 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor exclusively for video recording. Delivering high-sensitivity, low-noise imaging performance, the new Canon 35 mm CMOS sensor*1 enables the capture of Full HD video even in exceptionally low-light environments.

The newly developed CMOS sensor features pixels measuring 19 microns square in size, which is more than 7.5-times the surface area of the pixels on the CMOS sensor incorporated in Canon’s top-of-the-line EOS-1D X and other digital SLR cameras. In addition, the sensor’s pixels and readout circuitry employ new technologies that reduce noise, which tends to increase as pixel size increases. Thanks to these technologies, the sensor facilitates the shooting of clearly visible video images even in dimly lit environments with as little as 0.03 lux of illumination, or approximately the brightness of a crescent moon—a level of brightness in which it is difficult for the naked eye to perceive objects. When recording video of astral bodies, while an electron-multiplying CCD,*2 which realizes approximately the same level of perception as the naked eye, can capture magnitude-6 stars, Canon’s newly developed CMOS sensor is capable of recording faint stars with a magnitude of 8.5 and above.*3

Using a prototype camera employing the newly developed sensor, Canon successfully captured a wide range of test video,*4 such as footage recorded in a room illuminated only by the light from burning incense sticks (approximately 0.05–0.01 lux) and video of the Geminid meteor shower. The company is looking to such future applications for the new sensor as astronomical and natural observation, support for medical research, and use in surveillance and security equipment. Through the further development of innovative CMOS sensors, Canon aims to expand the world of new imaging expression.

Canon Marketing Japan Inc. will be exhibiting a prototype camera that incorporates the newly developed 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor and sample footage captured with the camera at SECURITY SHOW 2013 (www.shopbiz.jp/en/ss/), which will be held from Tuesday, March 5, to Friday, March 8, at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center in Tokyo, Japan.