Growing up in Nigeria, Shehab Hossain was not super exposed to the arts. But his father was a photographer, which piqued his curiosity.
“He handed me my first camera and I always looked at photos and just felt like there was something missing,” he told LexObserver. “The camera should be able to do more than just a day shot, there should be other things.”
Hossain was eager to explore art and culture when he moved to New York City as an adult, so he got involved with theater as a stage designer in a black box theater and shot concert photography. His interest in the arts didn’t stop there.
When a night photographer asked him if he wanted to go to an abandoned building at night and take light painting photos, Hossain threw caution to the wind and went.
That’s when his journey with the light painting, a type of photography that involves setting a long exposure time on a camera and then using a light source, such as a flashlight, to ‘paint’ while a photo is being taken, began.
Now, Hossain travels around the world to take light painting photos and teach classes on the art technique.
Hossain, who’s now a Lexington resident, will teach a light painting class at the Munroe Center for the Arts for second, third, and fourth-graders during the public schools’ April vacation week.
“It’s interesting to see what happens if you give these concepts to children who have no limitations, their imagination hasn’t been sculpted yet,” he said. “Their idea of art is very conventional…so you explain the principle and the concept and then you watch it grow.”
On the first day of the course, children will learn about light painting and get comfortable playing with lights. For the next few days, students will draw an image over and over again in different mediums, from pencil on paper to chalk on a chalkboard, until they’re comfortable drawing the image in the air with a light. On the last day, students will light paint an image together.
Hossain told LexObserver he is excited to teach the photography technique to children because he finds them to be very curious.
“I’m super excited to do this because it’s just crazy the things [children] come up with,” he said.
He often experiences that curiosity first-hand with his daughter, who enjoys helping him with light painting at home.
Years ago, Hossain would give his daughter flashlights, turn on music, and have her dance around in the dark while he took photos. She remained curious about his work, which he loved and encouraged, so he kept her involved in the process of creating his art. Today, she and her friends will practice light protography in her basement and alert Hossain when the moon is positioned just right for taking light painting photos outside.
Light painting is a unique form of art because it lives at the cross section of visual art and science.
Like Hossain’s daughter does, it can be helpful to track the moon cycles so you can take photos outside when it’s darkest. And by learning how to light paint, you pick up on how light reflects off mirrors, and mixing colors creates white, among other scientific principles.
“I feel that with physics and chemistry, if [children] are curious about those topics early on, they’ll figure out the details and the mechanisms of how things actually work later.” Hossain said. “At the end of the day, it’s really just ‘hey, don’t be afraid, none of this stuff is off limits, go try it out.’”
Cristina Burwell, the executive director of the Munroe Center, echoed Hossain’s belief that it’s important to promote curiosity.
“As a parent that was one of my goals — if I could keep my kids curious and safe, my job was done, because they will push themselves to explore new things,” she said. “That could be finding a job after college, or finding their next job after that. It starts with giving them the comfort and self-confidence as kids to be curious, and that lasts them throughout their life.”
Light painting has also helped Hossain’s daughter and her friends face their fears. He noted that many children are afraid of the dark, but light painting can help demystify that phobia.
“I’ll be like, ‘here’s a flashlight’, and with light photography, suddenly as kids start to become more comfortable with not just a flashlight, but a flashlight with colors, suddenly it’s like, ‘oh, you know what? The darkness is really a good thing because I can make art in the dark,’ he said.
Hossain urges young artists who are curious about different topics to give learning new skills a shot like he did with light painting.
“I never lost my ability to be curious,” he said.
Hossain’s classes will be held from April 21 to April 25 from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm and cost $132 per student for the week.
Congratulations Shehab!
Will catch up next week.