A year ago I walked into a studio for the first time and pointed a camera at Nicole and tried to photograph light painting. Light painting means long exposures, timing that has to be right, and a subject who’s working just as hard as the photographer while the shutter stays open. Not exactly the easiest place to start. But it was a start.

In the year since, I’ve learned a lot. Mostly by getting things wrong. Missing exposures. Light where it shouldn’t be and not enough light where it should be. Overthinking the setup. Then doing it again and again until I figured out what actually works.

So going back to shoot with her again felt like the right kind of test. Same space. Same model. Same strange, amazing language of moving light in the dark.

Here’s a link here to what I made a year ago. The newer work is below.

Feels different now. Feels more intentional.

We’ll see what another year does.