Lightpainter Introduction - L.A.C.E. - Interview Series #11

The lightpainting community is small and spread all over the world. A close association, which is perceived far too little in the world of photography. We want to change this. In order to bring you some artists closer, we asked some artists, which are active on HIVE, to introduce themselves and to answer a few questions about light painting and their relation to it.

Today we would like to introduce you ...

- L.A.C.E. -

Please introduce yourself shortly. Name, Age and where you from etc.

Hi fellow creators,

my name is Paul Spencer and I have been enjoying Light Painting Photography since 2011. I post my images under the name LACElight photos the LACE stands for Light Art Colour Experiments. I started out on my own but was joined after a year or so by my mate Matt, he has not been so active over the last 2 years and so I have discussed with Matt and decided to join Ecency and post to the Hive on my own.
01. How and why did you start Light Painting?

I was using a Chiropractor for some Breakdancing injuries in 2011 (Bboy since 1984). The Chiro was also a professional photographer and I spotted a picture in his studio which was a self portrait which had an arc of 12 parallel blue lines through the image. He explained how he created the image and I was interested to try for myself. That was the beginning of my LP journey.
02. What means Light Painting for you? What is your motivation? What drives you?

Freedom, expression, exercise, friends, collaboration, exploration, history, mystery. Driven by new ideas and techniques and trying to perfect older ones.
03. What gear do you always carry with you?

Sometimes it feels like I've got my whole LP kit on my back. Might be easier to mention what I sometimes decide not to take. The rotation tool is a tough one as it is so heavy but can create amazing effects. The Teleidoscope hardly ever comes out as it's fairly delicate and can take up a lot of time setting up a shot. I have occasionally taken out a tripod with a wheel attached to spin attached light tools but you can't carry it too far with all the other camera gear. My home made Digital Light Wand is a great bit of kit but can limit the amount of kit I can carry. I always have a headtorch, camera remote, Klarus XT11gt Torch and gels.
04. What is your favorite environment to shoot in?

Gateways, entrances/exits, tunnels, ruins, castles, woodlands. Derelict domestic, industrial and rural structures. Monuments, bridges, dismantled railways and quarries. Cont.
05. What is your Workflow?

I shoot mainly at the weekends and try to process in Lightroom (global edits only) through the week. I then upload my images as a batch into Flickr, with a write up of some sort. I have then been posting images daily onto Insta and FB (slowly moving over to the Hive).
06. Who or what inspires you?

I find inspiration in many different ways. 80's and 90's movies, album art, music, graffitti and discovering new techniques with collaborations with friends and of course the Worldwide LP community.
07. Do you have 3 Lightpainters you would like to have a colaboration with?

To many to mention, but a random 3, TCB (as he has experimented with many different techniques and has created many outstanding images). Trevor Williams has been an inspiration right from the beginning of my journey. Darius Twin amazes me with his art and cannot imagine how he sees in 3d space to create his images and animations.
08. What was your most memorable Lightpainting experience, event, or moment?

There have been a fair few memorable meet-ups so to pick 2 is really difficult. A meet in Snowdon in Wales was my 1st big trip out. Met up with Phill Fisher, Tim Gamble, Mart Barras, Kim Von Coels, Tei Pelant and Spence Illey. It was amazing weather, chilled campsite and can remember packing up the LP gear just as the sun was creating the glow above the mountains. We arrived back at the campsite just in time for breakfast wine/beer. Another great meet up was mainly with Phill Fisher and Tim Gamble in the Peak District and a couple of days later we were joined by Tom Hill. We covered many miles and visited some outstanding locations that blew my mind. Luckily Tim and I weren't trampled by any bulls (that's another story!) Cont.
09. What are your best or most favourite 3 pictures?

The pictures I've chosen are not necessarily my favourite images but are ones that remind me of my progression.

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"Dancing Light-Headspin"

This was the 1st shot of my 1st project "Dancing Light" where I worked with dancers from different genres with the idea of capturing movement of a particular movement in a still image. I actually created a gallery of 12 shots, all printed and framed, unfortunately I was at the beginning of my journey and got a bit ahead of myself.

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"Consumed"

We managed to keep this location a secret for ages, an abandoned Naval accommodation block that was going to be converted into a hotel but plans were shelved. We had spent hours during a few visits to this location and organised our 1st LP meet up here.

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"Summoned-Third"

Another secret location visited with Matt and Phill, Matt was the model and Phill managed to walk/slide down the slippery slope holding the Backlight Scanner. All I can remember is that my stomach still hurt the next day from laughing so much.
10. What brought you to hive?

Recommended initially by Chris Thompson and Tim Gamble who have been a great help, also DAWN and Mafu Fuma have been really supportive. I hope I haven't missed anyone or anything. Thanks

"Thanks for taking the time for the interview and the inspiration mate!"

YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE LIGHTPAINTING HERE?

Give the Lightpainters United Community a follow and you will be introduced into the world of light painting.

You will find innovative and original light painting from various artists from all over the world. Have a look at the profiles of some very active Lightpainter in the group:

Mafu Fuma - Oddballgraphics - Fade to Black - DAWN - Chris Thompson - Mart Barras - Stefan Stepke - Nikolay Trebukhin - Leetodd - Stabeu Light - Maxime Pateau - Stephen Sampson - lightandlense - Neil Rushby - L.A.C.E.

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Thank you for your support and keep shining!

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LIGHT, LOVE & UNITY!