This presentation was part of Pecha Kucha Night Scranton and was presented in that style: 20 slides, each automatically advancing after 20 seconds. The narration is based on my presentation notes. My goal with "In Pursuit of Light" is to not only share how I perceive the world as a photographer, but also to emphasize the role in which light plays in determining our moods and reactions, which is often overlooked.

1. In Pursuit of Light
Brent Pennington
Photographer
My name is Brent Pennington. I’m a photographer and have been making images
for over six years. My professional specialties are commercial and portrait
photography, but I also spend a of time outdoors, where I pursue nature and
wildlife photography.

2. Photography is about many things: subject, expression, emotion, place, time. The list goes on. But at its core it’s
about light. Photography is the study of light. You can’t take photos in the dark. (Well, you can, but it’s a heck of
a lot harder...)

3. As a photographer, my life revolves around the pursuit of light. It’s something that camera jockeys become very
accustomed to, such that it becomes second nature to evaluate and critique it.
Spend some time with me and you’ll start to hear loony statements like “Wow, the light is cold today.” I get up at
5am to be in the field for sunrise, even in winter, when it’s below zero out.
Come the magic hour, that period right around sunset when the world is bathed in a warm, golden glow, I’m
skipping dinner to be back in the field, capturing it.

4. Photographers are all a bit nutty, if you haven’t figured that out by now. We see the world in a very different way.
Every scene is measured in terms of composition, color, and contrast. And in the end, each element comes back
to the same starting point: light. A composition isn’t pleasing because of what it is, because of how it’s lit.
This is probably evident to everyone when it comes to landscape photos - the pictures you find on calendars and
the like.

5. If you study a batch of these images, you’ll find that most were taken around the same times of day: sunset and
sunrise. This is when the light is “best,” by which we mean that it is the most dynamic. It has energy and
transmits a feeling.
This next image was shot in Vermont, by moonlight on a very cold January night. It’s an interesting image because
it’s uncommon - it’s rare that we see landscapes by moonlight and almost quite like this.

6. This same composition, taken during plain daylight, wouldn’t be half as interesting.
As a matter of fact, you won’t find too many photographers out in the field during the midday hours. It’s simply
not a time when image making is at its prime. Which isn’t to say that it cannot be done: here’s an image that was
shot on a July afternoon last summer. It probably meets the criteria for being a “good” photo - it’s attractive,
indicative of the subject matter, maybe even communicates an emotion.
But to make it look this way, I had to dig pretty deep into my bag of tricks. There are multiple filters on the lens: a
polarizer to cut out all the glare, a graduated filter to knock down the light in the sky. And of course in editing - in
Photoshop - there were more adjustments to bring it back in line not only with what I saw with my own eyes, but
what I also saw in my imagination when I made the image.

7. In comparison, here’s another winter image, from the snowfall we had this past October. This is the northern end
of Lackawanna State Park, moments before sunrise, and there is no filter or Photoshop magic in this image. This is
how the moment looked; all I did was compose, focus, and capture. Ten minutes later, the sun came over the
trees and this scene was gone. Which isn’t to say that the one that replaced it wasn’t as good, it just wasn’t one
that resonated with me enough to make an image of it.

8. It doesn’t have to be big things, either It can be something as simple as apples on a tree in autumn. Even the light
doesn’t have to be special. I went out in the rain to see what images I could find, and came across this one.
Without the overcast, there would have been harsh dappled sunlight and hard, dark shadows here. Without the
rain, there wouldn’t have been glossy highlights. In short, there wouldn’t have been an image.

9. This is equally true in all other forms of photography as well. Consider portraiture, where we follow the same
rules as the old paint masters, albeit with different tools. A north facing window will still provide the best portrait
light, soft and lovely for a face.
But lacking such a window, photographers resort to artificial lighting, in the form of electronic flashes.

10. You’ll notice, however, that most photographers abhor pure, direct flash - in all the behind the scenes photos,
you’ll find our flashes mounted to umbrellas and softboxes, all of which alter the quality of the light, bringing it
line with our vision of the photo we’re after. Whereas in nature we chase the light, in a studio we attempt to tame
it, or even blend the two together.

11. As the quality of the light changes, so too does the emotional impact it has on us. I’ll jump back to a landscape for
a moment: this is one of Vermont’s covered bridges at twilight. Twilight is my favorite time of day - the sun has set
and the remaining light is soft and cool. It’s peaceful; it speaks of rest at the end of a long day. But if that’s not
the emotion we’re trying to convey, then that’s not the look - or the light - that we want.

12. If I’m shooting an engagement session, I won’t want to communicate “restful.” I want to show that my happy
couple-to-be is just that: happy. I want them out in a field, acting silly and laughing with each other. But that’s
still only half the image, because happy, laughing people don’t look happy in the blues of twilight. They need
warm light, light that the viewer will find inviting and energetic. There’s a lot of green and yellow here, colors that
are energetic and upbeat.

13. To shoot something a little more dramatic, however, I’ll exercise more control over the light, to darken the
surroundings and leave some harsher shadows. Take Joey here - he’s a cool looking dude, he doesn’t want the
light, happy feeling of the last shot. He wants something that says, “I mean business.” So I take more control over
both the existing light and the flash light, I cool their temperatures down, and make it more dramatic overall. This
is light that makes him pop from the background. This ain’t girly light.

14. Now Joey is cool, there’s no doubt about that, but Alli wants even more drama and more energy in her photos.
Which just means even more control.
This time, I’ve completely overpowered the ambient light. All you’re seeing here is light from a series of flashes,
which have colored gels on them to add warmth to the light. All together I’ve got multiple lights, with lots of
shadow interplay, combined with an energetic model. I refer to this as “pop star” lighting, because that’s the
mood it’s striving for.

15. Each of those examples shows the increasing complexity of flash lighting, how it’s able to work alongside the
ambient light or overpower it. But let’s reverse all that for a moment and look at another, much more subtle
example; wildlife photography. You might think that working with wild animals, that complex lighting wouldn’t be
necessary. And that’s true to an extent - you find the critters where you find them, and they don’t take posing
advice well.

16. But even so, your job as a photographer is to show them at their best, which means manipulating the light. In this
instance, you’re making judgements based on the environment and ambient light - maybe a different angle will let
you get a better shot, or maybe a cloud is about to pass in front of the sun, which will result in more even lighting.
Sometimes it just comes down to luck, being in the right place at the right time.

17. This is an immature bald eagle, pulling up from the river with a fish in his talons. It’s a small fish - goodness knows
a struggling trout would have made this an even cooler image. But it’s the lighting that gives the drama to this
scene. The shadows in the background have isolated the eagle, who is still in the sunlight, giving the image an
almost studio-shot quality. Again, it’s drama, and it works because it fits the subject. The light isn’t just making
the photo possible, it’s giving us subtle insight into its meaning.

18. Of course, not every critter - or every model, for that matter - wants dramatic lighting. We tend to gravitated
towards it, both as viewers and as photographers. Mostly because it is dramatic, and therefore seems like it’s
beyond our everyday experiences and lives. But sometimes it’s better to keep things in proper perspective. This
little guy is not a dramatic fellow. He’s just sitting in a canal, chowing down on some algea, and happy as a pig in
slop. Which is exactly how I wanted to portray him. Simple is better - focus on the cuteness factor and show him
for what he is.

19. In wildlife photos, the only trick going on is just a flicker of light - I’ve got a flash mounted to the camera and dial
way, way down. It’s throwing just enough light to put a catchlight in his eyes. This is something I do for all my
wildlife subjects - and the same theory applies to people. That subtle flick of light isn’t adding anything to the
exposure. But he catchlight in the eyes adds a spark of life. It quite literally makes a living subject look alive. And
that’s the key to the whole thing.

20. Light is the defining factor in photography. It’s actually the defining factor in most of life itself, but because it’s
always there, we tend to overlook it. We see its effects and understand them, even appreciate them, without ever
thinking about the underlying reasons. In a strange way, it takes a camera to make us re-discover light.
And then, of course, it becomes an obsession.