We have a great offer for everyone who values distinctive and creative photography. The photographs from a Brazilian photographer who produced the captivating series “Impermanent Sculptures” may be of interest to you if you enjoy the outdoors and are always in awe of its beauty.
We’ll take you to the photographer’s website to learn more about how he created these images, as he explains his project there: It is the outcome of several years of long-exposure photographic study. Some are captured in a single exposure, while the majority are created by superimposing small portions of light paints from many images. In addition to using digital masking and adjusting colour and contrast, the outcome is inspired by actual fireworks activity, which alternates between spontaneity and control.
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We contacted Vitor and asked about the story behind this amazing photography adventure and why he used this exposure technique to create these unbelievable images. He said, ‘When I was a teenager, I used to do drawing with watercolour, and that was the start of my path. Since that time, I have been interested in photography, even though the relationship between those two is less. I believe it is a more immediate way to produce images.’
“I began exploring my own with long-exposure photography in 2006 when I moved from analogue to digital photography and was living in Montreal. I started experimenting with the approaches and responding to the results, gradually connecting them to the drawing and thoughts I wanted to express, going beyond simply capturing the environment as it appears. This is how I came to create photos with ghosts and remnants of light.”
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We also asked about how nature comes as an influencer to his works. He said, “I like to be in nature, and other than that, I do climbing as my other hobby, and it is like my other passion. It helps me to connect with nature. I have always liked to travel around Brazil and other countries. Such as islands in Panama, national parks in the USA, volcanoes in Guatemala, beaches in Australia, and safaris in South Africa. In some of these places, I travelled with my parents’ money, and in others, I travelled on my own.
My affinity with Mother Nature and our sense of smallness and boldness in her presence as rebellious children have always been central to my landscape photography. When I get the chance, I try to make subtle, lyrical links in the natural world between our ideas and deeds, emphasising the beautiful over the startling in an effort to effect good change.”
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The photographer gave us some insight into the thought process that went into creating his images: “In a class I established in 2015, I taught what I already knew about long exposure, which is how I developed the approach I used for the Impermanent Sculptures project and its repercussions. In my quest to become a better teacher, I blended methods I had picked up from various artists and used them with what piqued my interest: lyrical nature pictures.
Trees were my primary subject, but they weren’t my only one, as I used the Light Painting technique to sculpt the contours and extensions of natural lines with fire sparks during extended exposures. I aim to highlight the throbbing, yet unseen to the naked eye, energy that all living things, even trees, contain when I light them. Since the natural world is occasionally mistaken for the paranormal, I want to evoke awe and intrigue for it.”
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We requested Vitor to share with us the main difficulties he encounters while utilising the long exposure technique. We learned: “Even though the sparks I use have low flammability, my biggest challenges are two: finding places that are both imposing and accessible at the same time and that do not run the risk of causing damage or going against local regulations regarding the use of fire for the performances that produce light painting photos.
When I grow them in Brazil, I typically pick locations that are either humid or near water or at the very least, don’t have a lot of dense, easily ignited forest. However, there is less risk because the sparks available for purchase in Spain, where I have been living since 2017, are not as powerful as those in Brazil, nor do they have the same results. In order to create the desired atmosphere, I modified the project to create a different kind of light painting. I used wooden plates with laser-cut holes that I suspended from a tripod. This adaptation’s outcomes were included in the Sacred Geometry project.”
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“Another adaptation I made to overcome the lack of more powerful sparks available in Spain was to develop the series with bonsai, thus using a very small spark, but which, in proportion to the miniature trees of a collaborator’s bonsai, produces a beautiful effect as well,” the photographer continued, mentioning a few more strategies that enabled him to successfully complete his project in Spain.
One of the challenges I have is keeping myself fresh and creating new methods based on the ones I’ve already employed to avoid becoming bored with the same old thing. I originally experimented with light painting with water in 2016, and this year, 2024, I’m revisiting this concept and fusing it with sparks in a brand-new piece that’s presently in the works.”
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Schietti concluded by saying, “I think the message I want to convey is one of connection.” Both the world and we are interconnected, as everything is. We ought to be more aware of this since, it appears, we have grown so far apart from nature that we now view it as hostile and something that has to be controlled and moulded, and in doing so, we are killing it. I believe that the joyful emotions my photographs arouse might also arouse a sense of duty and a reconnection with nature, even though my paintings may not be a clear political and environmental critique.
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