Light Painting Photography Revisited

While doing a little spring cleaning in the equipment store for the new year, we ran across an old light painting system we used to use quite often, especially in the analogue days of the 90’s.
For a while back then, the light painting effect was all the rage with professional photographers.
We couldn’t ignore the urge to haul it back into the studio to put it through it’s paces just for interest’s sake. As we set it all up, all the memories of the time spent using it came flooding back.

Light painting is basically a technique in photography where the camera is set up and locked off on a camera stand or tripod and then with the studio in darkness, the shutter is left open while the subject is “painted” with a moving light source.  This creates the image by building up the exposure as the painting progresses.
The equipment we have is the Hosemaster system which was developed in the 90’s by a photographer from New Mexico named Aaron Jones who was quite famous in those days for his light painting photography.

The system is quite sophisticated. It consists of a control box with the light source, a powerful arc or daylight discharge lamp, coupled through an aperture system to a long fibre optic flexible hose (hence the name).  The fibre optic terminates in a coupling unit that hosts a plethora of different light shaping masks and tools.  These include simple shaped masks, molded attachments with varying size and shape holes, light wands, smaller scraper type paddles and small, solid glass probes with shaped tips for very fine work.
Another important part of the system is the external shutter and filter mechanism.  This is set up in front of the camera lens, but to eliminate vibrations, supported independently.  This unit allows the photographer to open and close the shutter and flip a diffusion filter in front of the lens by using buttons built into the business end of the fibre optic cable.  This allows complete control of the exposure and more importantly, to do a small practice run on each painting movement before applying the exposure to the camera.

The technique gives quite unusual results compared to conventional lighting as the subject is lit not only with moving light, but often with the light source originating from within the area of the photograph, which in conventional real time photography would be impossible.
The other unique effect that it allows is the controlled diffusion of certain selected areas of the image. These areas can be given a clean hard look with no diffusion filter, a very diffuse look with the filter in place and then anywhere in between by giving different proportions of exposure with and without the filter in.

 
We shot a couple of different simple setups just for the fun of it, but we’re now rethinking it’s use in our day to day commercial photography, especially when it comes to smaller industrial equipment which we sometimes need to photograph in the studio. It could give us the ability to do something different and unique especially with smaller subjects and is well worth keeping in mind.

Below is a link to the website of Aaron Jones who later went on to create commercials using his light painting system and techniques. 

https://www.aaronjonesfilms.com

Archiving and storage of images

 
The archiving of our images has always been a very important thing to us. I’m not exactly sure why this is other than I know most professional photographers in the days of analogue were passionate about never losing their negatives. I’m no exception and still have every negative I ever shot from the days of film. Including everything I shot at college and that’s a while ago!
A lot of our work in analogue days was on colour transparency so there was no original to retain but every black and white and colour negative still remains on file.
Being early adopters of the digital format, we have still to this day retained every image ever captured. Both edited and the original raw captures. Actually, we have on file a lot of Photoshop work we did before digital cameras came to the fore as we used to run a lot of our work through high end drum scanning from colour transparencies and prints in order to take advantage of the new found ability to refine images using computers, which predated practical professional digital cameras by a few years.
This means that through the years we have gone from the storage of all images by an array of technologies. Film negatives, optical drives, CDs, DVDs, Blurays and now hard drives with thankfully, ever increasing storage capacities.

For the last ten years or so we have also duplicated all storage as well, so that if there ever is a storage medium failure, we do have the data in a second place. The decision to do this was reinforced by a hard drive failure on one of the backup drives some years ago, which was fortunately recoverable, albeit at not inconsiderable expense.
We aren’t under obligation to archive our images but it’s a service we’ve always offered and our clients make use of it remarkably often. In many ways we’ve shot ourselves in the foot with this as in the days of film, if a job was shot on colour transparency, when the client lost the transparencies it was always a reshoot. This used to happen more often than you might think. Transparencies were transported between client, agency and repro house and in the rush of deadlines the opportunity for the original material to go missing was quite high.
Aside from providing a valuable service to our clients I also just cannot bring myself to ever willingly permanently delete image data. I guess it’s the magpie in me.

Fitting Out a New Location Vehicle

After purchasing a second location vehicle in order to have two teams capable of doing professional industrial and mining photography on location, we thought a little background into how they get fitted out to purpose may be interesting.
We have found over the years that the best configuration for our type of work is the double cab pickup truck fitted with an enclosed canopy for the load bed.  We’ve been through the usual assortment of vans and station wagons but for what we do the modified pickup definitely fits the bill.

Our other vehicles have always had the conventional single door at the rear of the canopy with a sliding bed to allow easy access to the equipment without having to climb in and out to reach items towards the bulkhead. This has worked very well for us but on this vehicle we did a bit more research and decided that ditching the slide out loader and going for three point access would work even better.

Having used it for a few shoots so far it has worked out even better than we thought. Getting at all areas of the load bed is even easier than using the slide-out and the whole thing is also more secure with the positive locks on all three doors and no windows on the sides.
Of course, it’s always going to look a bit “plumber’s van” but function overrides style when it comes to everything but the photographs!
Aside from the canopy itself there are always a bunch of other fittings that need to be made to get it where we want it.  These are a comprehensive tool kit, a fire extinguisher (in the load bay as well as the cab), 20 liter jerry can with siphon hose, rotating light storage, interior load bay light, wheel chocks holder, buggy whip flag socket and storage, a water storage tank, first aid kit and u-bolts for tie-downs on the roof of the canopy so we can transport long items such as the high-mast system or background rolls when required.  The other thing we always do is to carpet the load bay even if, as in this case, it is already rubberised. This gives the gear a little more cushioning against vibration and helps stop any items sliding around. Somehow it always feels better to load gear onto carpeting rather than a cold, hard steel base.

While we were busy with this we thought we would shoot a time lapse and a few clips of video of the activity.

https://youtu.be/3BuNn4IiY_8

Sorting the PPE Mountain

In the course of industrial , mining and construction photography, we tend to gather a fair bit of personal protective equipment (PPE) as we go.  This all indicates part of the lengths companies go to to ensure their worker’s safety but over a few years it results in us accumulating a bit of a PPE mountain.
So we decided, rather than having a general pile which was getting out of control, we needed to do a proper sort. The image below shows the extent of the problem!

One of the things with PPE is that different operations require different types of safety equipment.  Just as an example, when it comes to hardhats, there are a few different kinds and requirements. You get a fairly standard short peaked hardhat for general surface operations and factories. Then for underground they are usually more substantial and of course have a fitting on the front to accommodate a cap lamp. Then again at smelters they require special materials to make them fireproof, or at least resistant to the possibility of flying furnace materials. Then at new mine projects there is shaft sinking where you are working at the bottom of a vertical shaft which may be anything up to two kilometers deep so the hardhats are more substantial and have very wide brims. Also some may have fittings for external earmuffs and/or chinstraps for working at heights. And that’s just hardhats! Multiply this by all the number of different protective items and you can see how the molehill turned into the mountain.
Organisation was needed. So we got stuck in and assigned a full studio cabinet to the task. We eventually figured out a system where we have a section each for Joe, Bryan and myself.

This has helped a lot right away where we no longer have to go through everything figuring out what sizes fit who. There’s still a big “spares” section but at least on a day to day basis we’ve cut down a lot on the required pre-shoot checklist time when it comes to PPE.
Over the years, safety has become more and more important to our industrial and mining clients and as such we need to keep abreast of not only the equipment but also of ever improving measures and protocols.

Geoff Brown is an experienced professional when it comes to professional mining and industrial photography. Contact Planet KB if you would like to know more.

An Unusual Studio

 
I have a job for you. I require some great photographs to be taken in a very specific studio.  However, there are a few small issues with this studio.

The heating is stuck on high so it’s a pretty constant 34 degrees C.

The humidifier is also malfunctioning so humidity is around 100% in there.  You may find your camera and lenses fogging up to the point of water dripping off them. In fact there’s water running pretty much everywhere.

There’s a great sound system in the studio but unfortunately someone got a copy of “Pneumatic Drills Vol 2” stuck in the player, and that can’t be turned off.  Also the volume knob broke off and it’s set at an earsplitting level.

Oh, did I mention that the studio floor consists of large, razor sharp broken rocks? Or that the whole studio slopes at thirty degrees?

Also, I’m afraid the lights have tripped and no one can find the breaker.

Sorry, one more thing. The height of the whole studio is just over one meter, meaning you’ll need to crawl up and down it’s 30 degree slope over those broken rocks on your hands and knees in the dark.

Our health and safety department insist you wear heavy steel toe-capped gum boots, hard hat, headlamp with a cable trailing to a battery pack, inflexible knee guards that like to bite your shins, thick overalls, safety glasses and gloves.  And don’t forget your heavy emergency oxygen pack, which we require you to wear in this studio at all times.

Apologies for the parking arrangements, but you will need to walk about two kilometers carrying all your photographic equipment by hand. Sorry, but using a trolley for all your gear won’t be possible as the path is very uneven and often strewn with broken rock. It wouldn’t help you on the last 70 meters anyway as the studio entrance is a very steep set of uneven, broken and subsiding steps interspersed with slopes, that you will need to haul yourself up by chain. Please be very careful on this part, a water pipe broke and you’ll be climbing through a small river which makes the going very slippery.

Put all of that a few kilometers underground and that’s pretty much what mining photography looks like, especially in the stopes (areas where the actual reef is extracted)

But seriously, this is just one part of our tightly specialised expertise and being as we love what we do we look on these conditions as a challenge.  The harder it is, the more of an achievement it feels like to come back with great images.

And after all, it’s free gym!
 
 
 
 View our  mining photography portfolio here

Geoff Brown is one of the few photographers in South Africa with many years of experience in photographing underground mining operations and equipment. Contact him on planetkb@global.co.za should your organisation need a professional above- and below-ground mining photographer .

The West comes to the South

Over the last few years I’ve been commissioned to photograph the construction of a massive chemical project in the USA. My shoots have been planned and facilitated by my good buddy Randy, a safety specialist at the existing plant, and an all round great guy.

A few weeks ago Randy advised me of a package arriving for me care of a colleague who was flying to South Africa.
I’ve just picked up the package and to my great delight, it’s a pair of - wait for it......... cowboy safety boots!

On my last shoot I had noticed a few of the construction workers wearing these outrageous cowboy style safety boots and decided I gotta get me some of them. They are fully compliant, steel toecapped, chemical and electrical resistant and all the rest. Unfortunately, being loaded down with masses of gear as always, I just couldn’t buy a pair to bring home with me.

As an industrial photographer, one our most important pieces of equipment, after the cameras I guess, is a really comfortable pair of safety boots.

Well, I pulled these on as soon as I got back to the studio. Unlike most safety boots they are immediately comfortable and I am beyond delighted with them. Thanks Randy, what an amazing gift!

I haven’t taken them off yet and have been thinking that if, as they say in the old Westerns, a man gotta die with his boots on, I guess I should die in these!

Actually, I'm going to test these out to see if they're comfortable enough for me to sleep with them on.

The dilemma now is that as they are such great boots, can I see my way clear to actually using them on site? You can see the state of my old boots and I’m worrying about how much it would hurt to mess up the new ones.

The flip side of that coin is that they would probably just get more awesome with some mileage, dirt and wear on them.

Life’s full of tough decisions……….

Bryan Brown joins the business

Bryan Brown has, after much deliberation between continuing his studies in Psychology and Genetics and starting a career in the media industry, has decided to go for the latter.

So far he has obtained a drone pilots licence, organized and initiated all the considerable applications and requirements for their operation and spent much time training with me on stills photography and doing research and training in the many skills needed for motion picture work.

Over the last few years Bryan has been stepping in as assistant on various of my shoots, in between studies etc. and has been trying to decide whether to follow in my footsteps with photography and imaging as a career.

This is now an ongoing effort which is driving towards Planet KB adding video to it’s services offered. So far we have acquired various equipment and, more importantly, knowledge and we are finding out that there is an enormous amount still to be learned. In reality the learning in this business, be it stills or video, is a process that never ends.

I have always been exclusively in the stills photography field and that will remain the main drive of the business, especially for me, but more and more these days we are being asked if we can produce video.

It’s always been my strong conviction, and it still is, that the two disciplines shouldn’t be mixed by one person on one shoot. The requirements are so very different that if the photographer does not put all of their energy into one or the other, the inevitable result will be a compromise in the stills, or the video. Or both.

With this in mind, we have decided that with Bryan joining us, there is a good opportunity for us to venture into video work without compromising our existing skills. In short, let’s do this thing properly!

I have to say, it is giving me a lot of satisfaction to be able to pass on some of my many years of experience to my son. But make no mistake, Bryan is enthusiastically finding his own way through all the skills, and in the process I’m learning a lot from him too.

Energy Drinks for Safety

We sometimes go through quite a lot of energy drinks and my view on it is that it is a positive thing in terms of safety.  Basically, when you’re out on an industrial or mining photography assignment, it often involves working from before sunrise to well after sunset, with probably a hard day of surface or underground photography taking place in adverse conditions between the two.  These can have factors like extreme heat and humidity combined with hand hauling heavy equipment over long distances as well as up and down many flights of stairs or ladders.

This is all great - it’s free gym and keeps us fit without us having the choice of skipping it when we’re tired.  However, a little assistance from energy drinks helps to get us safely home after such a day.  Often the danger is compounded by the fact that the mine or plant in question is most likely to be quite remote, leaving us driving through the dark on potholed "B" roads.

I’m not generally in favour of artificial stimulants, but if it’s a choice between falling asleep at the wheel and getting home safely – better we grab the bull and get some wings. 

We try and stay off the stuff as much as possible reasoning that you probably develop a tolerance of some sort to it and then , when you need it most, it may not be as effective.

I’ve found over the years than Monster (green’s the favorite) is great for a mild pick-me-up but when the chips are down and your life may depend on staying sharp, I haven’t found anything better than the original Red Bull.

Traveling through Southern Africa by Road

The photography we do requires us to do a great deal of travel by road.  Many locations are better accessed by road, especially with the large equipment load we need on mining and industrial photo shoots.

We often choose to drive even seven or eight hour trips rather than fly to save the hassle of transporting gear by air then transferring to hire cars.  It’s always nice to simply load up the truck with everything we think we may need rather than scrimping and cutting back on gear with flight restrictions in mind.

One of the things I love about this is that we get to see many places that we would otherwise never get to see.  Needing to get to a remote destination often takes you through places that most people, especially tourists, would never dream of bothering to travel to.   This all works out wonderfully in line with my travel preferences.  Whenever I travel on vacation, I deliberately avoid all the tourist sights.  It’s a feeling that I don’t want to see what’s put on show, I rather want to see the places that most others never get to.  A lot of our locations are in areas that are very far off the beaten track and don’t have definite destinations that would cause anyone to go there unless they have business there, or at least a definite purpose.

I’m not saying everyone should visit these sort of places but I do think if gives a wonderful insight into how real people live their lives beyond the cities and the tourist traps.

There is also great beauty out there that never gets seen by others and in a selfish way I feel I get to claim these experiences as my own.