Incredible new images and a beautiful explanation of his light painting work from Patrick Rochon. The Light Painting KATA.

Getting to the essence of what I do,
I now understand that light painting is above all, movement.
To me, it is a mix of dancing and martial arts.
Light moves everywhere all the time.
Our bodies are emitting light and expressing something subtle but important.
We must see it and understand it.
We must reveal it’s secrets and knowledge.
I believe it is a key connected to our consciousness.

The light painting KATA is the expression of the light we move and create everyday and the trace we leave behind.
-PATRICK ROCHON

From Wikipedia:
In Japanese language, kata (though written as 方) is a frequently-used suffix meaning “way of doing,” with emphasis on the form and order of the process.
Other meanings are “training method” and “formal exercise.”

The goal of a painter’s practicing, for example, is to merge his consciousness with his brush; the potter’s with his clay; the garden designer’s with the materials of the garden.
Once such mastery is achieved, the theory goes, the doing of a thing perfectly is as easy as thinking it.

MORE IMAGES ON PATRICKS WEBSITE HERE.

By now most of you have probably already seen this amazing 360º light painting project by Patrick Rochon and Timecode Lab [Stephane and Eric]. I tried to get these three creatives together for an interview when this first came out but Patrick was in Vegas creating more light painting awesomeness for a show out there. Now that things have settled down a bit for this light painting master and the geniuses at Timecode Lab I had the chance to catch up with them to hear a little more about this project.

24×360 from Timecode Lab on Vimeo.

LPP ∇ Your 24×360 light painting project looks really great can you tell me a little more about it, who was involved and how long did it take for the project from concept to finished images?

TCL ∇ [Stephane] Timecode Lab started doing bullet time photography for brand activation events on 2011 and Eric has been involved since the beginning. After about 20 different events and an absolutely crazy 2012 summer, it was time go back in our studio, set up the rig for ourselves and start having fun with it.

LPP ∇ How did the project come about? What was the inspiration?

[Stephane] We then met Patrick who was doing light painting for a Chevrolet project were Timecode Lab was involved. All of a sudden it became clear that light painting + 360 bullet time would create something new and magic.

LPP ∇ The set up for something like this must be immense, what kind of equipment did you use and how much of it?

TCL ∇ [Stephane] We used 24 Canon T3 with kit lenses (18-55) at 18mm. All the cameras are mounted on a 19 feet steel rig. They are all triggered at the same time via a custom “trigger cable” that was
developed by our team. Shots are done in manual mode, so the light painter can really decided how long he wants the exposure to be. Once the light painting is done the artist can visualize is creation on a preview screen were all the 24 images starts rotating

LPP ∇ Was the shoot sponsored by anyone?

TCL ∇ [Eric] No. Most of the people involved in the project did it for free.

LPP ∇ How many tries until you got the first good one?

PR ∇ [Patrick] It’s random and it depend on what you want to achieve. I had some sow come out great from the first go and others take 10-12 takes…

LPP ∇ What was the average exposure time?

PR ∇ [Patrick] I go for an average of two minutes

LPP ∇ What will the images be used for?

TCL ∇ [Eric] It was an artistic project. My harddrive (and my backup) could have burned and I would still be happy. Being able to showcase the pictures is cool, but it is nothing compared to the joy of making the project itself

LPP ∇ Which one is your personal favorite?

PR ∇ [Patrick] On every shoot there was challenges and victories so all that we show means something important. The first shoot with Genevieve Borne stays special because it was such a new way to work and light paint having cameras that sees every angle of your lights plus you can’t be in the way of any of the cameras or you create shadows. We did the shoot in three hours and were blown away by the result. All instinct no fears! Here is my first shoot using a live model in 360:

http://24×360.com/artist/genevieve-borne

LPP ∇ What is the next step? Do you see this 360 project as an evolving one or do you feel it is completed?

TCL ∇ Next step, well pushing the 360 video of course….

Check out a few of the 360º images below and for even more amazing 360º light painting photography check out http://24×360.com/gallery