Painting with Light

Painting with Light: Light Art Performance Photography
—New from Rocky Nook

Santa Barbara, CA — April 7, 2011 — Light Art Performance Photography (LAPP) is a unique form of art that was invented and developed by the authors of Painting with Light (Rocky Nook, $39.95 USD). It is one of the first forms of art using light as the medium to gain widespread attention. Unlike other types of light painting, LAPP doesn’t just involve illuminating existing objects; it also requires the photographer to create and capture new subjects constructed entirely of light. LAPP pieces are usually shot at night using long exposure times to capture complex sequences of precisely choreographed movements. Real-world surroundings are combined with transient, light-based elements to produce spectacular effects.

The defining characteristic of LAPP is the harmony between the background and the harsh light often used to produce the individual image elements. The symbiosis between photographer and performer gives each work a degree of reproducibility that is essential if it is to be accurately restaged at a later time.

The first part of Painting with Light describes the evolution of LAPP as told by its originators, while the middle section goes on to present a gallery of spectacular, large format LAPP images. The final section offers some basic steps and tips to give you a starting point for creating your own LAPP artworks.

About the Authors

Joerg Miedza spent a number of years creating movies using special techniques, including using a remote controlled car to film from a ground-level perspective and producing stop motion films. The skills he acquired working with motion pictures have allowed him to contribute significantly to the performance aspect of LAPP photography. His love of electronic music from the early synth-pop age helps him create the perfect mood for displaying his images by combining them with suitable sounds.

When JanLeonardo Woellert began working as a photographer, he took photos only at night. During this period he developed new techniques in the fields of light drawing and so-called “dark night photography,” illuminating and accentuating his subjects with portable spotlights and torch lights. In 1998 he became an assistant to photographer Stefan Meyer-Bergfeld in Oldenburg, Germany, where he learned the craft of large-format landscape photography. In 2004 he entered into digital photography and since then has taken more than 10,000 longtime exposures at night.

Together Woellert and Miedza have been developing a unique brand of light painting—Light Art Performance Photography, or LAPP for short—since 2007. In September of that year, the pair founded the LAPP-PRO project and rapidly became known for their fresh approach and their influence in the global light art scene. Their pieces are the subject of interest and appreciation all over the world, and in 2008, one of their images was awarded the German national prize for scientific photography.

The LAPP-PRO project and the http://www.lapp-pro.de website provide the pair with a worldwide network for promoting their remarkable work—work that would be unthinkable in the context of traditional low light photography or video production.

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