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Charles F. Morgan

b. 1956 San Jose, California

 

 

Light Painting in the Desert

 

     For the past twenty years or so I have been going out into the desert and making photographs at night, during a full moon. I selectively illuminate the rocks, sand, and plant life I find out there with different colors, using a strobe and filters. The light of the full moon slowly illuminates the surrounding areas that are left alone. I also use a flashlight to “draw” graffiti on the rocks/plants and in the air during the exposures. The “marks” I make show up only on the film in my camera, which has been recording all of this during a timed exposure. I like to call this graffiti “environmentally safe.”
 

     I was originally inspired to work this way by the petroglyphs left by previous cultures of the area. Some symbols represent the ancient marks I have seen in the desert; others are more modern. I like the combination of older and newer images; perhaps it gives me a sense of a link with the past. I enjoy experiencing some of the same things in the same places that people centuries ago experienced. Since I am not defacing the environment, I feel as if I am being a good custodian of the land.
 

     Additionally, the work evokes the presence of the city nearby through the use of the neonesque light. I feel this creates a bridge between the man-made city environment and the natural environment that was here first. Since I can draw/paint anything I desire on any object I choose, or simply in the air, I feel that I can address any topic that comes to mind.
 

     There is a strong element of chance involved in the work, which I believe relates to the natural environment, and most certainly to the man-made one. While I have achieved a certain level of control in the way I make the exposures through experience, I am not in total control of the process, nor would I want to be. I feel that when I set up my camera and “run around with my lights,” I am setting up parameters in which chance can have a hand. This element of chance I find very exciting, often giving me pictures I never could have thought of, or “pre-visualized,“ in a million years.
 

     All of this gives me images that I feel are evocative, ethereal, and beautiful. These photographs allow the desert to open up and reveal it’s true richness and grandeur, attributes most people take for granted, if they see them at all.

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