Luminous creatures float in the dark like dream paintings. Interview with light painter and photographer Hannu Huhtamo

Tell us what you do and your beginnings.

My interest in drawing started at a very early age. I filled my school books and every piece of paper with all kinds of monsters, superhero characters, and graffiti-style texts. Later, I got interested in playing guitar and wanted to create a career as a musician. I studied at the Pop & Jazz Conservatory in Helsinki, and after graduation, I worked for a few years as a gigging musician.

“A few years ago I practiced how to do my version of swans, but the implementation in a proper location didn’t happen right away. The basic idea of the photo was to create a dreamy scene where two swan-like creatures are floating calmly in the water with a glowing sunset in the background. After I published this shot, it went viral and it got featured in various magazines and news channels. It’s probably my most well-known light painting at the moment”.

During these years I didn’t draw much, but about 15 years ago I got more into photography. A friend of mine introduced the concept of light painting by showing his experiments with small LED lights and long exposure times. I was blown away by the images I saw. All those colorful light trails in various locations made a strong impact.

How can the person who did the light trails not be seen in the picture? It felt magical, mainly because there was no photo manipulation involved. Every image was straight out of the camera. I’ve always liked the idea that everything you see in the image has happened. I started searching for more information about long-exposure photography and light painting techniques. I bought myself a DSLR camera, small flashlights, and kids’ light toys.

“A fox couple in the middle of the forest. Most of the light paintings in my animal-themed series are done with a single continuous line. It helps me to operate in pitch-black conditions. When I can’t see the surroundings, I can only rely on my muscle memory”.

It was fun and addictive to experiment and learn how to create different kinds of light shapes. A whole new world opened to me. At that time the best place to learn these things and meet people with common interests was Flickr’s community.

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