A stunning photo by Christopher Renfro, who was painting
with a trick of the light for the last three years, changed his life.
According to Christopher Renfro who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder:
“When I first found light painting in 2009 it just
completely blew my mind,” he tells The Weekly Flickr. “I have spent my entire
life really not knowing who I am, what I am supposed to do, or why I am here
and when I found light art photography I knew instantly who I was.”
As Christopher describes, “light art photography is the
methodical movement of a light source in front of a camera set to a long
exposure.”
He does the most of his work at evening in normal
surroundings.
“I am particularly fond of the twilight before it gets fully
dark, where I can exploit the natural light before it completely leaves,” he
says.
What is awesome with regards to his photos is that all of
his work is accomplished totally in-camera. “I don’t even know how to really
use Photoshop,” Christopher claims.
“I make the orbs by having a wire with a light on one and a
switch on the other, with a wire in between,” he explains. “You swing this vertically
while pivoting around a center point and it creates a perfect sphere if you do
it right.”
“The light sparks are actually steel wool. I secure it to a
string, light it with a 9-volt battery or a lighter, and just start swinging
away and sparks just go flying everywhere,” he says. “When you’re working with
steel wool, it’s very important that you’re aware of your surroundings and
possible things that could catch on fire. It is a little bit hard for it to
cause a fire, but it’s certainly possible.”
It normally requires him between 6 or 8 attempts before he
obtains one photograph he is satisfied with. He has undertaken thousands of
exposures since having his very first picture and every single is simply as
interesting to see as the first. However, light art photography has turn out to
be much more than just an exciting passion for Christoper. It is his savior.
“I have a mental illness called borderline personality
disorder, and it has created a lot of challenges in my life,” he explains.
“When I’m having a rough day I can just go off and create art. And just the act
of creating something is very therapeutic to me.”
“I posted my first pictures to Flickr and almost immediately
someone from the Light Junkies group invited me to the group, and I discovered
this amazing community of fellow light geeks,” he says. “I wouldn’t be here and
have gotten this far with them and their support.”
His advice to those with his illness is to never give up.
“You don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring,” he says.
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