Since he picked up his first DSLR camera at 17 years old, Will Ferguson has been interested in getting creative with light. Now a professional filmmaker and photographer based in London, Ferguson makes time between clients to shoot passion projects. One such project has brought him a lot of attention after he posted a video to TikTok. His incredible photo of a LED light halo over the famed tower on Glastonbury Tor has now gone viral thanks to his behind-the-scenes video.
After climbing Glastonbury Tor at 3 a.m., he attached bright LED lights to his drone. It took a bit of finesse, but the end result is a magical photo where St. Michael's Tower is eerily illuminated by this mysterious halo. For Ferguson, the project was a way to combine two passions—drone photography and light painting.
“I began with the classic shot of cars driving along a motorway at night and progressed from there,” he tells My Modern Met. “I also have a passion for flying drones and I do a lot of commercial drone operations for clients. When I realized an LED lighting company had made a kit available to safely attach small but bright LED lights to my drone, I was sold. Combining these two passions energized my imagination and this image was created!”
Ferguson then posted a TikTok video as a way to share his knowledge and help other photographers create similar work. He never could have guessed the impact that it would have. “The response to my behind-the-scenes TikTok video has been absolutely crazy,” he shares. “I have always loved sharing my work online but have never ever experienced such a big boom of engagement with a video before. My TikTok grew 25,000 followers and the video reached 1.5 million users within 48 hours. One of the best feelings is having a community of people following my social pages because they love my work and are inspired to go out and take their own images. It is really epic to be able to help other photographers improve their images.”
But this isn't the only drone light painting that Ferguson's done. He also posted a video explaining how he executed a perfect halo over a tree. Beautifully balanced between the halo, the surrounding environment, and the sky, the photo shows off Ferguson's technical skills. Anyone interested in seeing how to create these night photographs will definitely want to follow the British photographer.
Photographer Will Ferguson combines his love of drones and light to create artistic light halos.
His behind-the-scenes videos on TikTok give insight into his creative process.
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