A few years ago, a friend told me about an abandoned Christian church over towards the Lincolnshire Coast known as St. Botolph's. It's a shell of a church and it's roof is still intact but no windows or doors are present. Our reason for visiting is that it makes a great place to visit to practice the art of lightpainting!
I don't know a great deal about St. Botolph's other than what I can find on Google. The building is a redundant Anglican church near the village of Skidbrooke in Lincolnshire. It's recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. I have felt slightly guilty for venturing in to here with things that burn!
This is a set of mostly unseen images I've taken over the years on several visits. I haven't been in quite a while as I understand the place is more protected than it was and a warden keeps an eye open for raves and the like!
Too much?
Sometimes, less is more but I reckon this was just about the right amount of steel wool sparks spinning behind the subject, in this case my fellow lightpainters' tripods. I kinda figured my expensive camera might be better further away from the hot sparks!
A cheeky firework
Now most people looking at this would wonder how crazy the person spinning the firework was. They'd be right; attaching a small firework to a short plank of wood attached to a drill and being spun only inches away from the holder's eyes probably isn't the wisest thing to do.
Luckily my eyes are intact and I only have a few burns to show for it!
A cheeky orb within an orb
It's almost immediately after you've just spun a firework or a ball of burning steel wool when the guilt starts to dawn on you. What if I set the building on fire with my pyromania? Will I be given a prison cell to share with a bloke called Shirley? This church is hundreds of years old and here I am trying to set the place on fire!
Believe it or not, sanity prevailed and we decided to do something a little less dangerous! This is an orb within an orb and it would take me quite a while to explain how this was done but sometimes the mystery of lightpainting and wondering how something was done is half the fun!
A visit with Jodie and the LED light wand
Ace portrait photographer, Jodie Painter came out with us for the evening to see what lightpainting was all about. She likes to dress up and here she posed in her cape and mask while a friend waved a custom made RGB light stick around.
Zoom Pulling Practice
This was one of the first times I ever practiced zoom pulling and the archways in the church door seemed like a good place to start!
The Graveyard Star Trail Shot
I set my camera to shoot a star trail sequence then went back in to the church to help my lightpainting buddies inside. I can't deny there is something very creepy about being stood in a graveyard in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere!
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.
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Lightpainting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera, or by moving the camera itself during exposure. Nothing is added or removed in post processing.
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If you want to see more examples of lightpainting, feel free to check out these guys:
Mafu Fuma | Oddballgraphics | FadetoBlack | DAWN | Mart Barras | Stefan Stepke | Nikolay Trebukhin | Lee Todd | Stabeu Light | Maxime Pateau | Stephen Sampson | lightandlense | Neil Rushby | L.A.C.E.
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Mega set from a beaut of a location. Great stuff pal.
Cheers pal, been wondering about a return but it's a long way to drive to be kicked out....
Tis a bit of a trek pal.
Well done! Glad your eyes are still intact.
Haha thanks, I should really invest in a pair of goggles!
Great images mate, lovin the write up, laughing about your attempts to set yourself and your location alight. I'm not sure if the tripods in the shots are doing it for me? 😂🤣😂
I like a nice behind the scenes shot. But anything involving burning magnesium strip and I'm off outta there!! It's a bit burny....
Yeah, leaves a bit of a mark. 😬
Hmm sparky! Me like! Need to go and spin some wire wool again, i'm getting withdrawal symptoms! Lol