Hannu Huhtamo is a well known light artist who uses long exposure photography to create his pieces. This technique called, “light painting” or “light drawing” allows him to use darkness as his canvas and light as his brush. Huhtamo lives in Helsinki, Finland and originally pursued a career in music. However, in 2008 he began working on light art and became a master of this craft. He is inspired by everything around him, including nature, unique forms, dreams, and other artists. Most of his work focuses on floral shapes and organic figures, as he is fascinated by the symmetry in nature. Many of his “canvases” are in abandoned houses and dark woods. He is continuously trying to understand and examine the definition of beauty through the environment, aiming to find hidden beauty in unusual and forgotten places.

Huhtamo uses different light sources, such as flashlights, optical fibre tools, LED pencils, plexiglass tubes and rods, and often modifies them himself so that they meet his needs. He often starts with a sketch and translates the lines and points into movements that he will practice like choreography. Huhtamo often works late at night or in the early mornings to ensure that there is a deep contrast between the subject and its surroundings. He does not use Photoshop as he does not believe in post processing his photographs.

He has several light flowers and luminous beings that he says represents hope and order in the middle of chaos. He uses his art as a form of meditation, hoping to find balance and symmetry in his life. He also went on a trip to Namibia for a collaboration and got inspired by his surroundings, creating animals and growing his light flowers in a whole new environment. Huhtamo also creates light portraits using the same techniques and tools he does for his other works.

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