Light Paints Life

"To love beauty is to see light." -Victor Hugo

I find my self constantly in awe of the beauty of Gods creation. From the soaring majestic mountains to the deepest depths of the sea, we are surrounded by beauty. However, without light there is no beauty. Photography can be described as painting in light, and in fact it is light that enables us to see and then capture the beauty around us. I took the picture above about 2 weeks ago at the end of Wrightsville beach. Me and some buddies decided no matter how cold the water was we were going to enjoy it. I love taking photos at sunset. The light is so clear and natural and yet it is subdued. The harsh rays of a high sun giveaway to the softer tones of the evening. In this shot we see a over exposed spot of light in the middle of the shot( where the sun bursts through the clouds). The surrounding areas are grey and dim. Reflections of light burst of the subject's chest. This light subtlety outlines the subject helping him to stand out against the background. Although the light is subdued, it is still a hard light. This photo is somewhat backlit, while light reflections from the water and sand help provide natural fill lighting. The shot has areas of high contrast but wouldn't necessarily be considered as having low key lighting. 

 I took this shot in Carolina beach during a heavy rain. The light is very artificial and harsh. The street lamp gives off a hard light that slowly dissipates as it falls to the ground. Light from the street lamp reflects off of a puddle on the ground. This reflection copies the hard light of its source and acts almost as another source of light in the shot. The light from the puddle also adds symmetry to the shot by mirroring the street lamp. Light from the porch of a house towards the bottom of the frame casts long shadows across the ground. The shot has a nice chiaroscuro that is consistent  with low key shots like we have here. Light truly plays the most import role in photography and must always be one of the main considerations when planning a shot.