Photographer Jason D Page was invited by Wango Tango festival 2019 to create a series of light painting portraits with some of the acts playing over the weekend, including Halsey, CNCO, and The Jonas Brothers. The photos were shot in a single take, with a team creating the surreal effects using light-painting brushes.
The images were commissioned by iHeart Radio’s Wango Tango Music Festival in Los Angeles. Naturally, at festivals and concerts, press time with artists was limited, and so the team had only a minute or two with each act. As a result, all of the photos you see here were shot in a single take; there really was no time for extensive setups!
The restrictive time slots also meant that Page and his team, which consisted of assistants Jason Rinehart and Efren Herrera, as well as test model Melissa Meyer, pre-planned the concept and patterns for each artist in advance. He says:
We designed images around the latest content the artist had released and tested them using Melissa as our model. We designed and tested ideas for about eight hours.
During the six-hour stint at the festival, Page and his team captured over 50 light-painting portraits, using light painting tools are from Light Painting Brushes and Fractal Filters. “We were really pleased with how it all worked out, especially for only getting one go to nail the shot!”
Check out Page's website here.
Images courtesy and used with the permission of Jason D Page.
The ability to deliver under that sort of pressure is the THE definition of a pro. Planning, prep and execution with a lot of backup minimizes the need for excuses and airline tickets to Costa Rica.
Anyone can do it, not necessarily pro's. It's all about knowing what to do, and in the case of light painting, it's way easier than say, trying to light a band with strobes/reflectors/speedlights etc in locations where lighting is bad or very poor, all within a time constraint. Light painting is much more predictable and constant, especially when you know the photog and his team tested out the lighting patterns and had it down to a T by the time they made it on site.
The fact that anyone can do it is not my point. Anyone can do almost anything....once.
As I noted, the prep (50 unique setups), the coordination (working smoothly with top talent in a few minutes) and creative execution ( flawless delivery of quality images) is what a pro does.
The singular conceit of the amateur is the belief that experience is not a factor.
The fact that this person has done a ton of demanding work means that the success of an ambitious project is far more likely than any amateur who saw some Youtube video.
Patrick Hall Lee Morris ... love your site, guys. but a quick note on this article ... i'm surprised there's no link for Jason's work/website. probably an oversight. just wanted to bring it to your attention. thx.
And another oversite is the 'Light Painting Brushes' that goes to a 404 page.
Genuine oversight! All amended now. Thank you for flagging!
Wish there was behind the scenes video showing the sessions in action and setup.
Agreed. He does have a few tutorials on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG-fAofOON8G3RwcpuMFy0g) and other places. But would be nice to see the individual setups for this shoot.