Patrick Rochon


Light painter Patrick Rochon is used to capturing luminescence around a still subject, but athletes travelling at over 30kph bring a whole new set of variables. "You're taking pictures of moving objects in the dark, so you can't change your focus once it's done," says the Canadian artist, who immortalised these wakeboarders in collaboration with photography event Snap! Orlando and Red Bull. "You have to go in a bit blind."

He set up five cameras around the Orlando Watersports Complex, using Nikon D600s and D800s for dynamic range. It requires a long exposure -- Rochon sets his at between 30 and 90 seconds -- and the light source can vary. "I work with anything that's reflective, that diffuses or emits," he explains. Rochon started light painting in 1992 after studying photography in Montreal, and generally uses handheld tools to "paint" around a model. This time he had to rely on the wakeboarders' movements. Snap!'s Evan Jones fixed strips of white LEDs around the boards and coloured gels were added for some shots.

Rochon's work references the phenomenon of human bioluminescence: our bodies constantly emit a tiny amount of light, invisible to the naked eye. "We leave a mark, like the wakeboard leaves a trail," he says. "We're all light-painters."

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