LAPP - Light Art Performance Photography

Light Art Performance Photography - LAPP for short - started life as a form of art know as Light Painting or Light Graffiti. Basically it is a photographic technique in which exposures are made, usually at night or in a darkened room, by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera. Some have said LAPP is no different to Light Painting but we will get to that just now. The images produced using a one-shot “Bulb” setting that requires long shooting times produces beautiful and mesmerising images. 

LAPP, according to the guys at www.lapp-pro.de who are the creators of all the images that you see here, is like a set of dance steps and movements that must be planned and rehearsed. The performance lies in the shaping and creating of the light patterns. Paraphrasing here from a very difficult to understand Wikipedia entry:

"The overall performance is composed of a set of pre determined dance steps with a light source and a direct eye for the management of the setting in which the photograph is to be taken. No singular step in later seen as the result but rather each step is required to achieve the desired effects," hence the title Light Art Performance Photography. It is also why the 'performers' holding the light source often remain in the photograph while in traditional Light Painting the light source does not remain in the frame.

I've always had a tendency towards anything with a psychedelic tinge so LAPP really appeals to me, so much so that I found this link to a page where you can learn the techniques behind the whole process yourself. Just because I like this stuff so much, here is some more.