A Long Neon Nightmare
What you are looking at is the product of hours worth of experimentation and still represents a single step towards a final project still in the works. The subject is a colleague and friend at Edna Manley College, with a simple black cloth backdrop. Most of the work comes into the lighting style, achieved with nothing more than a handheld flash and both a red and blue gel set. Set for a long exposure, the light is splashed across the subject over a period of around 30 seconds.
The main issue is a lot can happen during those 30 seconds.
Taken under the same conditions this image remains distorted as a result of the models movement (not necessarily a bad effect either). Here it appears as a ghosting effect on the subject but with ample time in post-production a balance is found and a sharper outline brought out for the subject.
Now this blurring effect taken to the extreme.
Here the model (another EMC colleague) is deliberately moving during the exposure, shaking their head from side to side and making an effort to keep their shoulders still. The effect is wonderfully demonic with a human expression distorted with the motion blur.
