About this limited edition photograph:

The light painted photograph “Perpetual Now” was created at the Ryumonji Zen Monastery near Dorchester, Iowa.

To create this light painted photograph I placed my Canon T3i camera on a tripod and I used a long exposure of 425 seconds. I created the faux fire circles around the bell by waving a red LED glow stick around in fast and random whipping motions as I walked around the bell. This allowed me to create the appearance of rings of flames. I used a string as an aid to help me keep my rings equal distance from the bell. The lower ring which is whiter in color was a bundle of amber colored LEDs which I jiggled around randomly while walking around the bell. I then used my red LED glow stick to create flames around the perimeter of the bell by moving it in a fast and random fashion. Finally, I used my powerful spotlight and an amber colored gel filter to cast light onto the timber framed structure, being careful not to cast light beyond the bell structure or risk illuminating the Zen Monastery building behind.

This photograph came off my camera as-is, and involved zero post-processing or Photoshop.

Nocturnal Designs © 2013.