Lights, camera, and wait.... The outstanding art created with just a torch and a time delay button



Taking a photograph usually takes a matter of seconds.

But for Brian Hart one picture can take weeks to create and the 31-year-old is fast developing his own genre in the photographic world, light drawings.



These stunning pieces take weeks to create using simple torches and a camera.

Intricate design: 'The Garden Triptych' took weeks to design, with each line being created by a movement by Mr Hart

The intricate works of art use up to 255 smaller images in one picture and a range of bright colours.

Artist Mr Hart, 31, has refined the technique over the years and spends up to a month planning the remarkably detailed pictures.

One picture shows a boy wading by the water next to a rowing boat.

Another uses 125 individual photos to create a huge mosaic of a woman with a flower in her hair.

Light fantastic: Artist Brian Hart has refined the technique over the years and spends up to a month planning the remarkably detailed pictures

All light: The 'light drawings' are created with LEDs and a slow shutter speed

Incredible: Pictures can take weeks to create and this piece uses 255 smaller images slotted together

A woman sits holding an umbrella next to a bicycle in another image.

Mr Hart creates the work by using a long exposure setting on his camera - a technique which means the camera can take one image over a period of up to 20 minutes.

While the picture is taking he carefully waves small LEDs around to draw his images in the air.

For the huge mosaics he does it hundreds of times and pieces them together on a computer.

Mr Hart said: 'I have drawn since I was eight and these pictures are the most recent outlet for my natural instinct to draw.

Magical: This piece, called 'Absurdist Portrait of Dena with Bike' took weeks of planning as Mr Hart has to intricately plan his movements using the lights

'I first had the idea while sitting around the camp fire with friends. I had a new camera and thought I'd try and write my name using my phone on a long exposure.

'Over the next several weeks I found finer and finer sources of light until discovering the lights that I use now - these super-fine pin LEDs.

'I am able to obtain the level of intricacy in the single-shot images due to the pin LEDs I use.

'Lights are a finicky drawing material - they're like pens that are constantly spilling ink - you need to keep them moving or limit their 'spillage.'

'Dena Falling with Umbrella': Mr Hart said he got the idea when he was sitting round a campfire with his friends

'The smaller the light source you use, the greater the detail, the more texture and the more control you can inject into your images.

'By making larger images from sometimes hundreds of smaller, individually exposed images you can do things that would be almost impossible in a single shot.'

Mr Hart, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, added: 'I love the opportunity to make drawings with friends, family and just about anyone.

'I also like the relative undiscovered territory that is light drawing. I feel there is an extraordinary amount of potential in this technique and I'm excited to continue exploring it.'

Exploration: Mr Hart, who has been drawing since he was 8, said he will continue to push the boundaries of light art



