Creating complex patterns in Camera using static colored lights
*Caricature by Becca Klein
Behind the Lens*
Born and raised in England, Christopher has spent most of his professional life in Hollywood, creating music for feature films. He now lives in Bucks County, PA.
Photography however, has been a major passion of his since childhood and in 2010, Kennedy combined this love with another life-long fascination: colored lights. The result is what he calls Photo Luminism: Brightly colored complex images that portray luminescent, abstract patterns. These images are created totally in camera, in a single exposure with no creative digital manipulation. They are more like paintings than photographs. Using static light sources as the paint, and the camera as both brush and canvas, Kennedy applies multiple real time techniques to create dazzlingly vibrant contemporary art that has a unique character that seems to have a depth, motion and even light and shade.
The artist then prints these images onto brushed, high gloss aluminum, adding even more luminosity and a 3 dimensionality for yet an even more extraordinary effect.
The results are magical, jaw-breaking, commanding, exhilarating large scale works that can stop traffic, provoke thought and inspire stimulating conversation in just about any setting they are shown, from private residences to corporate and retail environments, hotel lobbies, restaurants and clubs. Christopher's images possess a color and brilliance that must be seen and experienced to be believed.
Kennedy’s work has been exhibited at The Old York Cellars Winery in Ringoes, NJ and is currently on view at Gallery Piquel in New Hope, PA and at The Photography Place Gallery in Doylestown, PA.
He is featured in the March/April issue of Bucks Life Magazine http://www.pageturnpro.com/Black-Dog-Media/37454-EARLY-SPRING-2012/index.html#62
as well as in the Spring Issue of The Artist Showcase Magazine http://artmarketpublications.com/pdf/ArtistShowcase_NY_Spring2012.pdf
For more information please visit his website at: http://www.photoluminism.net
ARTIST STATEMENT
I’ve been fascinated by light and the way it’s perceived by the human eye since childhood.
I used to hold brightly colored chocolate wrappers over my eyes to see how it changed my view of the world. Recently I became intrigued by the potential for creating images using lights as the source. There’s a certain magic to working with light in this way. Although I use the metaphor of ‘light as paint and camera as brush and canvas,’ that is where the comparison ends as I am effectively ‘painting’ in total darkness. The process involves taking a series of shots that will determine what actions create what effect and which I want to accentuate, alter or lose altogether. I call this step ‘experiment to perfection.’ It is the most exciting part for me as there are so many facets of creativity and unpredictability. I must accentuate that every image is captured solely in camera, in a single exposure with no creative digital manipulation after the shutter has closed as so many people believe I must be using a paint program! I am not.
My intention is to capture light performing an action that cannot be seen by the human eye; to show others how startlingly beautiful it can be. My desire is to create images that capture the imagination and invoke a sense of awe and wonder.
I call this process 'Photo Luminism.' In the early 1900's, Luminism was characterized by a unique clarity of light in painted landscapes. My work places the emphasis on that clarity of light but then also utilizes it as the subject. Printing onto brushed aluminum is really the icing on the cake. It shows off the images in an extraordinary fashion, that happily the human eye can see.
