Everything is illuminated: presenting Aurora Crowley – Page 1
November 7, 2011
Paolo Roversi once mused on the ability for long exposure portraits to reveal deep details of the subject that shorter exposures could not, as though the very essence of his sitters spirit would shine brighter the longer it was burned onto film. Indeed, from a purely photochemical perspective, the theory certainly holds weight; each photon of light, and the energy it carries, electromagnetically causes a chemical shift to the coating of photographic detectors on the film. A longer exposure equals more light; more light equals a greater chemical change to the film. Indeed, when approaching the idea from a more incorporeal position, it could be viewed with even more gravitas; one could also declare that, whereas the frame of a single 1/1000th second exposure is an instantaneous capture of a sliver of time, capturing the portrait over 20 or 30 seconds is much like a collection of thousands of those slivers all strung together, captured in succession yet presented all at once.
Brooklyn based photographer
Everything is illuminated: presenting Aurora Crowley – Page 2
November 7, 2011
trails of light flow back and forth, connecting the model to the lens – and by extension, the viewer, like some kind of electromagnetic astral cord – while concurrently amplifying the internal buzzing energy of her models. On a technical level, the work is outstanding; one could estimate that these single exposures range upwards of ten minutes each, and the accuracy and attention to detail of the light painting, particularly for his slightly more restrained fashion based work, is nothing short of astonishing, given these lengths of time. Conversely, this attention to detail and technical mastery is balanced effortlessly beside an unencumbered haphazardness, with each work conveying a very apparent sense of artists intuition and, above all, openness for creative exploration. It is as though Aurora, through the art of light painting, has found the means to capture what he himself can perhaps see inside us all. In this way, viewing Aurora’s images is like observing the world through the attenuated scope of an infrared filter: allowing us to directly view spectrums of light not possible with the naked eye, giving us access to examine the current of energy that flows both through and around each and every one of us.
