Mixing Street Photography and Projected Light

I stumbled upon Martin Weibel‘s photography and saw something I have never seen before, mixing candid street photography with projected light.

I wanted to learn more and engaged in a discussion with Martin. I asked him what was the inspiration for the series.

I am a Swiss based photographer who grew up in Lucerne, a real beautiful town in the center of Switzerland. My work mainly revolves around black and white street photography.

I love this [street photography] discipline because it’s always different, unpredictable, and unique. Each moment occurs only once. I love taking photos of people, even strangers. And almost everywhere you go you will find them. My curiosity about the human condition and how people go about their lives is what drives me. The opportunities that street photography provides are endless and the moments are always present, just waiting to be captured.

The idea behind the Project “Flash the Street” is to combine the mood and candid way of street photography with the possibility and the creativity with a artificial light source. The Light Blaster is a great and handy tool to do that. Most of the shots are candid. The idea and the setup are planned in advance, but the model is random. As an example we can use the the shot of spotted stripes (above): the setup with the lines and the spot is planned. The person with the striped shirt, however, is candid and pure coincidence. So after the setup I have to wait for the right subject crossing my planed frame. The decisive moment!

So far I only don’t have many examples of street photography with the Light Blaster but I think it works well, and for me it’s a new dimension of creativity on the street and a good way to combine the mood and candidness of street photography with a touch of controlled light.