My most dangerous light paintings

The cover picture shows a abandoned places "Balneario de La Puda de Montserrat" in Spain. The place was particularly dangerous as I was traveling alone and had no one nearby to whom I could communicate my whereabouts. So I armed myself with a rucksack containing the most necessary items for an emergency. First aid packs with bandages, water, emergency rations, flashlights, a knife and a rope.

To protect myself, I usually wear half-height safety shoes with a puncture-resistant sole and steel toe cap, and if necessary a helmet or bump cap. I usually wear rough, tear-resistant outdoor clothing.

The flashlight was very important at this location because there were very deep holes in the ground. It is very important to scout out the surroundings in daylight if possible and memorize them. During the light painting performance, you move through the darkness. Especially if you don't have anyone at the camera who can temporarily cover the lens.

I painted this sphere at a lofty height on a mountain overlooking Werschetz in Serbia. There wasn't much space on the rock and you had to concentrate fully to avoid falling off the rock during the performance.

The Devil's Finger (Palez Rock) can be found in southern Siberia, near the capital of the Altai Republic, Gorno-Altaisk. From there you can enjoy a fantastic view over the vastness of Siberia. I had actually planned to perform a light painting on this rock. However, a few facts spoke against it: First of all, dark storm clouds were gathering. Not a good idea to stand on the highest point during a thunderstorm. My cab driver would never have been able to drive his front-wheel drive, old Nissan safely back up the mountain in the wet and dark. It was quite an adventure on the dry road. But the decisive sign of fate was a snake that wanted to make itself comfortable under my Lightblade. When I lifted the blade, it shot between my legs in a hole exactly where I wanted to start my performance. Halysotters are nocturnal, find their prey using infrared sensors and are poisonous! A good reason to avoid this place at night. I'm not one of their prey, but the next time I reach for my torch I might have the snake in my hand. Do they like that? It wasn't meant to be. I ended my plan at this point.

On a trip through Uruguay with Rodrigo Bari, we continued our joint "SAFE!" project.

During this project, I stepped on a rusty nail in the dark that was sticking out of an old slat lying around between the trees. The thing broke off and got stuck in the ground. My luck was that the nail was quite far forward in the shoe and therefore fit between my toes. You don't wear work shoes with a puncture-resistant sole and then something like this happens!

Old railroad bridges are also quite dangerous. For this light painting, I moved from the end of the bridge towards the model with the lamp in my hand. I accelerated my pace with the decreasing distance to the camera in order to illuminate the bridge as evenly as possible. I had to concentrate on the sleepers, as it went straight into the water between the sleepers. Any misstep would have resulted in a fall into the river. I didn't fancy a dip in the cold water in the dark.