How does Troy Paiva use the themes of isolation and loneliness in his work?

“I love the surreal feeling of wandering through an abandoned subdivision, alone, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night”

Troy Paiva, lightpaintingphotography.com

In this is quote from Troy Paiva he is talking about when he was making images for his book, Night Vision where he was in the Texas desert exploring ghost towns, abandoned buildings off-limits areas and decommissioned bases. When Paiva makes his photographs, he makes them at night or in the dark. He then creates his images using a technique, known as “painting with light” using different coloured lights and gels that makes Paiva’s photographs look authentic and unique. I choose Paiva as the artist I am studying because his images of ruined and abandoned places is what I want to explore in my personal study.

Night photography is a game of light or, more accurately, the lack of light. Because of this, you’ll need to adjust your camera settings to capture as much light as possible. This means shooting in manual mode and understanding the Exposure Triangle, the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. However when the first night photo was taken they didn’t have all these fancy settings they had to use different methods to make a successful photograph. The first night photograph was made in January 1839 by Louis-Jacques-Mande-Daguerre inventor of the daguerreotype photographic method. The picture he took was of the moon through a telescope which ended up blurred however he is know in history as the fist man to a make a picture at night. The daguerreotype method is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. The process required great care. The silver-plated copper plate had first to be cleaned and polished until the surface looked like a mirror. The negative of this method is that each plate was unique and there for you cannot produce a copy of the picture. A positive of this method is that images produced by this method are crystal clear and could process highly detailed objects. The daguerreotype method is a good photographic method for capturing highly detailed objects, however you can only produce one exposure per plate, so therefore, if you want the same picture of the same object you will have to make another exposure of the object, making the photographic process time consuming, polishing a copper sheet to a mirror finish, and expensive too. Troy Paiva’s images could be linked with the ideology, subject-matter and aesthetics of Romanticism in the way that he makes images of man-made ruins at night of abandoned cars and other derelict industrial structures. Some of the poets from Romanticism, such as Sam Taylor-Coleridge and Lord Byron wrote in their poems about ancient ruins in in the natural landscape. “where ruining ivies propped the ruins steep” (A Fragment by Taylor-Coleridge 1816) “Man marks the earth with ruin his control Stops with the shore” (Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Lord Byron 1812) In Paiva’s images the ancient ruins that Taylor-Coleridge and Byron wrote about becomes contemporary ruins of rusted cars that he lights up with different colours. Paiva explains he uses the colours because he can create a desired tone or mood that can change the appearance and perception of the subject – transforming it from eerie scrap to fine art. “my head exploded with the creative potential of combined light painting with moonlit time exposures ” (Night Vision The Art of Urban Exploration Troy Paiva page 11 published 2008 ) “I experimented with controlling the mood and atmosphere using colour intensity and chiaroscuro always in the pursuit of heightening the otherworldly nature of the setting” (Night Vision The Art of Urban Exploration Troy Paiva page 11 published 2008 ) Troy in these quotes talks about how light painting gave him a lot of creative ideas to explore and experiment with I am sure he experimented with different lights and colours and to truly get the best possible photograph he could get, I have found that He finds beauty in something forgotten, overlooked and abandoned and see it as a challenge to try and make it look like “fine art”. In short, Paiva could be described as a modern Romantic.

Troy Paiva started light painting photography in 1989 he likes to consider himself as a urban explorer. His light painting photography is a by-product of his passion for investigating the ruins of lost America and his photographs have been displayed in countless countries, in galleries, museums and magazines. When Paiva makes his image he likes to “paint with light” he goes around in dark clothes with a coloured light shinning it on objects. Paiva adjusts the exposure on the camera so he has enough time to walk around the area shinning the light on the objects he wants to shine ‘paint in’ with colour. In Paiva’s book Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, the subject of the book is abandoned cars and derelict industrial buildings. Paiva went to California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and finally Texas to make all the photos for his photobook. The book is recording industrial decline in the American West and the way the images are made is in a documentary style, however Paiva “paints with light” in creates unique images of these overlooked sites. Paiva is not the only light painting photographer and he is not the most famous one, however his work is unique and he definitely has his own style of painting with light. In the book he says ‘We have inherited a semi-toxic world of old military equipment and abandoned shopping malls’ (Manaugh 2008: 7) Manaugh in this quote is talking about the abandoned parts of America that have been forgotten and left to rot. What Manaugh is saying that Paiva gets enjoyment out of exploring and discovering urban places that have been abandoned for many years. How does Troy Paiva use the themes of isolation and loneliness in his work, when he takes his photographs? There’s no one in sight, vast landscapes in the middle of nowhere, abandoned or run-down buildings all these relate to loneliness because there’s no one in his images. The abandoned cars and old factory buildings are isolated from society. He like the silence and exploring these places because he likes the sense of being an adventurer. In my own images that I have made in response to Paiva, I have not used the painted with light technique, but have made images at night trying to capture abandoned buildings and explore a feeling of isolation and loneliness.

Matt Emmett is a photographer whos goal it is to rediscover the forgotten worlds all around us. He won the first historic photographer of the year award in 2017. Emmett’s photographs are not made in the night, however they do create the feelings of loneliness and isolation. he also makes images of abandoned buildings and places that are isolated from modern society. Emmett’s images explore a sense of isolation and loneliness by using different photographic techniques, such as the tunnel method by composing images with walls on both side of the image which could be considered to be a claustrophobic effect like a narrow hallway. Matt Emmett started his abandoned photography carreer in 2012 at the National Gas Turbine Establishment, a testing facility for military jets until it was closed in 2001 and demolished in 2013. However, this trip inspired the start of his very successful carrier causing him to travel across the world. One of his favourite photos is the cistern, a subterranean space used for the storage of drinking water below a busy part of London. Since the area was pitch black he had to adjust his camera on a long exposure and then walked around the area lighting it up with a torch. This approach to image-making sound similar to what Paiva does, however Emmett did not use different coloured lights. Emmett has said in a interview “that our historic built environment should be valued more, it is sometimes demolished or rebuilt with nothing saved or preserved from its before state” (reference it using Harvard system) This sounds a little bit like Romanticism, talking about historical and environment should be valued and not forgotten.

illustration: Emmett’s cistern in London described above,

In conclusion theses two artists both make photographs of abandoned buildings and try shine light on forgotten and overlooked ruins in the urban landscape. They have successfully made art out of things and places that most people consider useless or not important. Both have there own unique style and aesthetics and although their images appear similar, there are many differences too. I would say Troy is more of a photographer working within the aesthetics of Romanticism art movement, by using different coloured lights at night. Emmett does have the same sort of Romanticism style, however his approach is more surreal. His images are really good in creating a mysterious feeling within them. Troy Paiva explores the themes of isolation and loneliness by making photos without people in them and he takes the photo in the “middle of nowhere” which are connected to the two themes of isolation and loneliness. Matt Emmett does exactly the same thing by having no one in his photographs and doing it in the middle of nowhere, however Emmett does not use the technique of ‘painting with light’. Paiva’s images get the feeling of isolation and loneliness better than Emmett does and even though both artist are similar they do have there own style and different ways of doing things. With my photo I did well trying to get the same feel as both artist whilst trying to do something original however I think some of my photographers are quite generic but overall they still are good photographs.

Bibliography:

Manaugh, G. (2008).’Desert Iliad’ in Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration. San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC.

List interview with Paiva

Anything you have used to read about Romanticism