Night at the Playground is a series of images – depicting a variety of comic style characters that only come out to play during the twilight hours.

When the sun goes down and night takes hold, something very strange and magical happens in the playground of Hanley Park. Where what was once the play area for young children by day, by night it becomes the theatre for a host of animated characters – ranging from goblins, serpents, animals, etc.

Being creatures of the night, they exist only in the form of ‘light graffiti’ – like the effect created by someone drawing with an LED light in front of a camera on long exposure.

 

Whilst shy in the presence of humans, they remain a friendly bunch – playing and showing off to each other.

Interestingly, each character also has it’s own favorite playing apparatus. The hamster will run all night long on the spinning wheel whilst the octopus prefers to play in the sand pit. Some even hang out in groups – as depicted in Birds on a Wire (above) and in the image of The Three Wise Monkeys.

 

As to where they come from – that would be from the imagination within every child and from the happy childhood memories inside every adult.

 

Hanley Park  – Covering nearly a 700 square metres of climbing frames, swings, slides, and rides, Hanley Park is perfect for my purpose with over 50 separate pieces of fun apparatus to work with.

I’ve also conducted a location check at the proposed time-of-day and during the same proposed timeframe. As the light falls into complete darkness from 9pm onwards, a production period between 8-11pm should be a realistic estimate. 

Cartoons  – My cartoon characters and doodles will consist of serpents, octopus, monkeys, aliens, crows, hamsters, spacemen, etc. I’ll be looking to adopt a drawing style that easily translates to the technique of ‘painting with light’ – often referred to as ‘Light Graffiti’. As each image will be part of a bigger story, it will be important to maintain a strong consistency in the style of drawing. My initial test shots (of the location) will also help me decide which characters will feature in which shot.

Storyboard  – Going out into the cold of night and making things up as I go along is a formula for disaster. Instead, I’ve used the images from the location ‘pre-shoot’ and combined them with my cartoon images to create a storyboard for the series.

This also allowed me to plan each shot down to the last detail.

 

Light Graffiti – Practice makes perfect. My version of this project hinges on the ability to draw images in a bind scenario. Once I took delivery of the LED lights, I went straight into practice mode. Within a couple of minutes, I realized the tolerances of the medium and the extent of my own capability. At this point, I’m ready to schedule the shoot!

 

The main light source will be an assortment of LED key ring lights.

These can be purchased online for as little as £10.

I may also need to acquire a 3m Candle Power Spotlight.

Whilst costing a hefty £30, will be ideal for illuminating selected dark areas.

 

I’ll be using a Nikon D90 in manual mode. This will give me complete control over Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO and Focus.

Shutter Speed – I’ll be shooting in ‘Bulb’ mode with the camera set on a tripod.

ISO – I’ll be setting the ISO as low as 100. Doing so means there will be less random noise in the shot. 

Quality – I’ll be shooting in RAW, as the white balance sensor on digital cameras often has trouble with difficult lighting, so RAW files will give me more room in post processing.

 

This is definitely a job for more than one person. At the very least, it will involve one person doing the Light Graffiti whilst someone works the camera. It may also involve someone taking notes and to coordinate the shooting list.

Shutter Release – As each shot will take up to 1 minute to shoot, I’ll be shooting in ‘Bulb’ mode. I’ll also be using a remote trigger for the shutter release. A manual cable release will also be used as a backup.