Eric Paré is a visual artist who creates image to balance human body and light, with the technical supporting of long time exposure. We can see his artworks and experience on CNN, BBC, VICE…and NiSi is glad to provide filters for his creation.
E for Eric and A for Alice
A: I believe that most of people get to know you for your light-painting photography, and they must want to know more about you. So firstly please introduce yourself to us.
E: I’m a photographer from Montréal. I play mostly with light-painting and bullet-time photography. I have a studio where I operate multi-camera systems. I started doing light-painting in that kind of complicated environments (my first light-painting was made with 24 cameras). It took me a few years to figure out how to replicate my style outdoors. When I found a plastic tube in 2015, everything became clear about the future. From that day, I started doing mostly tube light-painting. This is what I am teaching on my youtube channel and in my Facebook learning group.
A: When did you begin photographing? Tell us the reason that why you fell in love with the camera.
E: I started in 2005, but I don’t have any romantic attachment for the camera itself (or any equipment). For me, these are tools that I’m using to achieve what I have in mind. Creating unique visuals is what it’s about. It took me ten years to figure out this style that today defines my signature.
A: Compared with landscape photography, why is the light-painting photography attracting you more?
E: I love landscape photography, but what is really driving me is to be part of the image itself. I am not behind the camera. I am with my subject, and I craft the light by hand. This adds a very exciting and challenging element to the overall experience.
A: According to your works, I think you keep the good balance between color and light, do you use NiSi filters to shoot? What are the filters you used to use?
E: So far I’ve been using mostly ND filters to allow me to shoot earlier at night or even during the day. What’s tricky here is mostly about balancing the ambient light with the brightness of my tube. NiSi filters is what I use in bright conditions. One other very useful way to use filters is to set a graduated to make the sky darker. This is working mostly when your subject is against a dark background (for example, a rock) and the sky is too bright.
Moreover, I recently got a Natural Night Filter that I can’t wait to use to mix tube light-painting and city skylines!
A: What is the most challenging part of doing light-painting photography?
E: For the way I’m doing it, my biggest challenges are to find the right place and make the best out of the various conditions. It can be windy, it can rain, we can get attack by mosquitoes, but in the end, we’re always more proud of the pictures that have been difficult to create.
A: Along all your photographs, which one you like best? Please describe the shooting process of it.
E: This one is my favorite:
It represents what we do best: finding the best location, and making the best out of the few minutes during the blue hour where the colors are at their peak.
More works of Eric Paré please check his website:
https://ericpare.com/
