My concentration utilizes painting with light to explore issues that the world faces, whether it be political, social, environmental, or some of my own personal issues. This idea of using light was inspired by Plato, that light enables people to see things that are truer and clearer.  It’s basically this thought of removing people from their ignorance, and showing them the reality that many cannot see. I was also inspired to use painting with light in this way by Vicki DaSilva, whose photographs have been an outlet for political issues.

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The light represents the issues, what they cause and/ or what is being lost. In the process of coming up with the issues and how I could portray them with light, I delved into news stories, interviews, and articles, to not only understand what was happening, but how it affects people. My concentration started by using the basic painting with light techniques. I later progressed into using those techniques and a PixelStick, then layering exposures to create images that would be impossible to do in a single exposure. The photo from slide 5, titled “Couch Potato”, shows the laziness and technology dependence that exists in most homes. My most creative photo is from slide 10, titled “Body Image”. I used UV reactive paint on the model’s body to represent the lines that a plastic surgeon would make. I then walked next to and behind the model to not only activate the paint on her body, but to incorporate a flow of light in the background. One of my best images, from slide 12, is titled “Deforestation”. It shows a tree that was painted with light in a desert. This image was so straight-forward, but the outcome was amazing and it gets the point across perfectly. It is one of the images that I am most proud of.