Despite predictions to the contrary, we have yet to experience any kind of global rapture here on earth. Should believers ever get beamed up to the heavens, I kind of imagine it would be in the kind of illuminated vortices created and snapped by British photographer Martin Kimbell.
The glowing tornadoes are actually long-exposure light paintings that Kimball makes by tossing a DIY, battery-powered, LED-studded, speaker wire hoop in the air like a frisbee.
Though that sounds pretty simple, he’s usually shooting on film — from two frames to sometimes, a whole roll per shot — so whether he got things right is a mystery that isn’t revealed until the image is developed.
Armed with a medium format Bronica SQ and 50mm or 80mm lens, Kimball takes to the countryside in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to find a location that he thinks could use a little flash of brilliance.
Kimball was inspired by American photog Stu Jenks, but there are a lot of folks experimenting with light painting these days. With drones, psychedelic rave planes, and GIFs (natch). Unclear whether those will also teleport you to a glorious afterlife. [
DIY Photography, The Creators Project, Martin Kimball/Flickr]