Regarding my nocturnal work, I consider myself a painter of light more than a photographer. Photography is the medium I choose to work in. My canvas is the darkness of night, where I use an aerial light attached to a drone as a brush to paint in light and shadow. This idea was poured into my photography foundation in the land of purple and gold, LSU.

In the first critique of Advance B&W Photography class, during the final semesters of my college career, I heard the words that made the years of Academia worth my time. The lesson being taught would change my perspective on photography and myself as an artist. Summarizing Thomas Neff's speech, using students' work as a visual aid, he said, "A photographer paints with lights and shadows. Their job is to guide the viewer through the image using lights and shadows.”

I took his words to heart, comparing my process in the darkroom to a traditional painter. They used canvas, brushes, and assorted paints. I used an enlarger, light-sensitive paper, chemicals, and various filters. Up to that point, I spent three semesters trying to create a true B&W photograph (it isn't as easy as it sounds). Hours would be spent split filtering one segment of an image to get the tonalities correct before I applied the process to the entire photograph. I had fellow classmates who explored and still are exploring the depths of the darkroom and alternate analog processes. They are far more knowledgeable than I am in those fields. I've always admired them for their exploration.

Fast forward to my “senior” semester and “undergraduate thesis,” Hidden Louisiana is how I brought the intimacy of the darkroom into the realm of digital photography. For months, I pondered how to bring the hands-on approach of painting with light, the sense of creation, and perhaps even perfection from the chemically scented darkroom to a backlit monitor and onto paper. In my opinion, digital photography is a cold medium. There is no warmth of intimacy in editing software by clicking and dragging for a certain amount of time. I wanted to change that for myself. How do I make digital photography intimate? How do I use my hands to paint with light in the digital realm? The answer came to me on the best research platform on the web, Youtube.

There I was, navigating through the black hole known as Youtube, its gravity of suggested videos sucking me further and further into the night, until I came across an artist, Ruben Wu, and his video Lux Noctis. Ruben had used and still uses a drone with an aerial light attached to it, which allows him to paint with light into the night sky. My question was solved!!! Better yet, I had the same drone as Ruben at the time; all I needed was the light. If Ansel Adams is the godfather of photography, I would consider Ruben Wu as the godfather of drone lighting.

Since 2017 I've been painting with light into the dark tranquil landscapes of south Louisiana and the crests of mountains. Leaving Academia, light is now my teacher; I'm its student. Quietly observing, studying the shadows it casts. Always asking how I can apply the lessons taught by my teacher into my work.

Chapter I: Genesis

Chapter 2: On The Razor’s Edge