Painting with light

A former rugby player has successfully adopted a photography technique to illustrate images, Cheng Yuezhu reports.

With two cameras, a tripod and a DIY light kit, artist Roy Wang roams the streets of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, at night.

As he waves his lights in the air in a meticulous manner that may seem odd to passers-by, the camera, set in long-exposure mode, captures the evanescent streaks and unveils the mystery of his work.

In these phantasmagoric photos, the ancient meets the futuristic, as glistening mythical creatures from The Classic of Mountains and Seas emerge in front of the skyscrapers and historical sites of Guangzhou. One can see a blue phoenix spreading its gigantic wings in front of the Canton Tower or the "king of koi "leaping out of the Pearl River amid lotus blossoms.

The series of photographs is created by light painting in which the photographer uses light sources to produce different images through long exposure of the camera lens, as if drawing on the photos.

The 34-year-old has been practicing this technique for over a decade and is now a representative figure of light-painting photography in China.

"What fascinates me the most about light painting is that, by using a simple light and against a dark backdrop, I can paint in an unconstrained style," Wang says.