Ambient Light: Marcus Kesler

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Author: Heather Eck (OVAC Intern)

Marcus Kesler, Taft, Photography, 16" x 24"

Light. Place. Time. These are just afew factors that Edmond artist Marcus Kesler takes into account before making aphotograph. His Concept/OK Survey exhibition piece, Taft,further explains why light is so important. For each photograph Kesler makes,he uses light and the color of light to tell a story within the locations heshoots. 
Most of his locations have a history, especially this clump of ruins inTaft. The state of this location is what inspired Kesler to plan and capturethe image. He describes the ruin looking as if a fire made its way through it;the red light you see mimics the supposed fire. Kesler informed me further asto why and how he uses light to breathe life back into these rather lifelesslocations.
Q: What is the processin which you light your subjects? What kind of lights do you use?MK: After takinga neutral photograph using only ambient light to get a good feeling for thesubject that I am photographing, I start walking around the area and use ahandheld flashlight to illuminate different areas of the scene. I try to get afeeling of how certain areas stand out once they are painted with light and Itry out different colors to see how they complement the atmosphere that isalready there. 
The goal of the light painting is to help the object or placetell its story and to share the emotions that are already present. Once I havean idea of how to do that, I start taking 3-5 minute exposures of the scene andthen use that time to move around and manually paint individual scenes withlight using a variety of flashlight and a handheld strobe, both covered withdifferent colors of theater gels. The setup is very portable and fits in asmall bag that gives me the mobility needed to travel in and out of differentareas at night.
Q: How do youdetermine which location to shoot?MK: The generalareas are either determined through research or pure luck, often both. Duringmy process of photographing historical African-American towns in Oklahoma Ispent a lot of time at the Oklahoma Historical Society looking over old mapsand land surveys to find the locations of towns that no longer exist. 
Once Ifound the general locations of these towns I used satellite maps to see if Icould find any sings that there are still buildings to photograph. But themajority of locations are found by simply driving around the state whilekeeping an eye out for locations with potential. Sometimes it is fairly easyand you just happen to come upon an old abandoned gas station. When I do find alocation I try to spend at least 5 minutes just walking around the area beforesetting up to take a picture to feel out the location and to let it tell mewhat kind of story it wants me to tell.
Q: Do you work inany other photographic medium, such as large format, or do you strictlypractice digital photography?MK: I strictlypractice digital photography at this time. The instant feedback and being ableto review your ideas is a very valuable ability to have. There have been manytimes where I have thought that something would look wonderful in a certaincolor, only to find that the material that I was painting absorbed all thecolor and almost nothing was visible in the final picture. Using digitalallowed me to identify that problem and correct it on site. Digital also hascertain benefits over film when it comes to long term exposure and being ableto calculate the amount of time needed for each picture.
The Concept/OK: Art in Oklahoma exhibition is open to the public through February 16, 2013  at the new Tulsa Arts and Humanities Council’s Hardesty Arts Center. See www.concept-ok.org for more information.