viola

Posts tagged
with viola

Music Photography

Photographer Stephen Orlando Captures the Movement of Musicians Through Light Painting

Photographer Stephen Orlando (previously) captures the nearly imperceptible movement one makes when quickly sliding a bow along strings, the senses typically drawn to the sounds rather than appearance of the instrument being played. By using carefully placed LED lights and a long exposure Orlando can track these movements through space, following arms and bows with light trails that extend out from the body and instrument. These bright ghostly marks are captured through his photographic technique and not altered with Photoshop, making their distinct patterns all the more spectacular.

The Ontario-based artist was inspired by the lighting painter Gjon Mili, who also experimented with violins in 1952. Orlando explains:

A relative motion between the performer and camera must exist for the light trails to move through the frame. I found it easier to move the camera instead of the performer. The LEDs are programmed to change color to convey a sense of time. The progression of time is from left to right in the viola and violin photos and from top to bottom in the cello photos. Each photo is a single exposure and the light trails have not been manipulated in post processing.

You can see more of Orlando’s lit rainbow pieces on his Instagram and Facebook.

Music

Viola through Glass: Alexander Chen Creates an Orchestra of Violas

Google Creative Director Alexander Chen (who previously turned NYC transit data into music) recently sat down with his viola and a pair of Google Glass specs to record snippets of video and audio which he then looped and edited to create this miniature orchestra. While the video editing was done externally to Glass, the perspective lends itself nicely to the viola and there’s something sort of life-affirming about the music and snippets of life recorded just beyond the instrument. Beautiful music, well done. (via explore)