Manfred Teh: #19 Light Seeker
Title: #19 Light Seeker
Artist: Manfredteh
Edition: 1/1
Camera: Sony ILCE-7M4
Lens: Sony 14mm F1.8 GM
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 14mm
Shutter Speed: 30s
Aperture: F1.8
Size: 4672 x 7008
Location: Lancashire
Story:
Light Seeker - A light painting piece created as part of my ongoing collection - "Glow". This interesting looking structure is located at the top of a nearby hill near Colne, Lancashire - which was about an hour and half drive away from where I live. It wasn't a tricky place to get to, however it was a long drive. This was my second attempts of creating light art at this location. The first time I came here, the condition of the weather wasn't great, it was very windy and cloudy, not an ideal condition for light painting. Although I tried what I can on the first attempt, the results weren't quite the standard I was looking for. On top of that, I didn't took a wide enough lens (16mm) with me, so I have decided to go back there again for a second try on a more favourable weather condition and with a wider angle lens (14mm).
When I first saw this structure, it reminded me of something extra terrestrial, so I wanted to create something that gives out that impression. Therefore, "Beam me up scotty" immediately came into mind. I went there with my usual light painting equipment - drone with LED light and a light tube. The process of the shoot took a few attempts and some trial and errors to get it right. As it was impossible to control the drone, press the camera shutter on the tripod as well as posing myself at the same, so I had to program the drone to fly automatically and then I had to set the camera to time-lapse mode. After all that, I had to climb to the top of the structure to pose, all of those steps had to be timed perfectly.
The process of climbing up and down and going back and forth to check the camera felt like a workout. I had to repeat that process many times, with every attempts there were some failures and there were some decent efforts. As I continue to create art deep into the early morning, running back and forth to see what I have captured on the camera screen, eventually the drone batteries ran out and I had to call it a day. From all the photos captured that night, this piece was the one that I was most satisfied with. I am glad that I decided to go back for the second attempt, as the final results from the second attempts were much closer to how I have imagined it to look like.
Location: Colne, Lancashire
