Lomo glows in the dark!

This group is for lomo and toy cameras and focuses on pictures taken at night or in the dark. The emphasis is on getting creative with the light available, such as street lights etc.

Multiple Exposure

A flickr group focussing on multiple exposures with a variety of cameras. Group discussions include advice on technique.

e-lomography

Huge lomography site with over 80, 000 images.

Digital Identity Through Cultural Identity

Being part Maori I decided to approach digital identity through cultural identity, looking specifically at expressing who we are using new technologies to recreate cultural stories with contemporary images in a digital context.

The creation myths are stories about the beginnings of time, of how things came to be. I focused on the legend of Ranginui and Papatuanuku. This story reflects my identity and culture. My name is derived from Ranginui and means sky, and the story has great significance within Maori beliefs, customs and values.

Maori myths and legends are important to our way of life, spirituality and cultural identity. There are themes and issues in all Maori myths and legends which reflect issues faced by today’s societies. This particular myth relates to the Maori and their spiritual connection with thier environment, especially Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother. The issue of sibling rivalry is also prevalent within the myth, and also loyalty. Standing up for your beliefs and revenge (utu) is also prevailent and shown through Tawhirimatea’s actions after the separation.

The images represent the main characters in the story. Showing modern interpretations of the

characters through digital photography and photographic techniques. The purpose is to create contemporary images to represent our ancient myth and through the images I endeavour to

portray Maori cultural identity through digital identities. I believe it to be important keep our

cultural history alive and moving forward with the technologies in the modern digital realm, recreating our ancestors stories through new artistic techniques and tools.

FINAL IMAGES - Digital Identity

Precedents

While I researched cultural photographers, such as Bill Owens, I found that the precedents that related to my project were more technique and art based. I chose Michael Bosanko because he uses the same technique of light painting for his Light Graffiti series.

Although Bosanko uses the same technique, there are differences to his approach to mine. He uses the environment to add things which are unusual. Working with the environment framed in the lens, he adds the light, composing new aesthetics into the picture.

I however, used a totally dark room to create my images by painting the light onto a black canvas.

I also researched lots of Maori art and myth and legend stories. There are numerous books which present the gods in human forms, this I believe is part of Maori culture, humanizing the gods gives us a more intricate relationship with them. The morales of the stories and actions of the gods can also be related to society and everyday issues.

Michael Bosanko's Light Graffitti

Thirty-nine-year-old photographic artist Michael Bosanko has made pictures, which have not been Photoshopped, using coloured torches at night in the same way that an artist uses a paintbrush. His digital camera stays on a long exposure, ranging from 10 seconds to one hour to create the images against the backdrop of Cardiff, Newport and the Brecon Beacons in south Wales. Welsh artist Michael Bosanko has spent the past five years developing his technique. These images were taken with a long exposure on a digital Canon camera. Based in Cardiff, most of the light art is drawn either in the empty urban night spaces of cities like Newport and the artist's home town, or in the more desolate landscapes of the Brecon Beacons. To get the best results the shoot depends on the amount of ambient light that is available. If Bosanko is working in an urban environment like a city then there is lots of ambient light that means he has to work quickly. Covering the lens of the torches in coloured acetate paper brings different shades of the spectrum to images.

“What I feel I am trying to convey is a sense of an aesthetically pleasing shape that clearly does not belong in that particular place or area,” says Bosanko. “The inspiration for Light Graffiti came to me around five years ago when I was on holiday in Greece,” says Bosanko. “I was taking a picture of a very bright moon one evening in Greece when I noticed a swirling effect because the exposure had been left too long.”

Bosanko's next plans are to take the Light Graffiti around the country and possibly internationally.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/12/michael-bosanko-light-graffiti.