Hidden Stories of The Room: A Journey into Childhood Imagination

Arina and Armaghan Taghvaei's Award-Winning Light Painting Photography

The designers were inspired by their fascination with the world of children's imagination. They wanted to recreate the fairy tale bedtime stories they used to tell each other when they were young. The designers decided to capture these stories in their childhood bedroom, using the magical combination of lights and shadows. They drew inspiration from Rembrandt, a master of the theatrical employment of light and shadow, to present their childhood dreamy, sometimes scary world in a dramatic way.

The unique properties of this design lie in its ability to share the emotional journey the designers have gone through over the years. By painting with lights, they brought to life all the imaginary stories they once lived in as kids in the very same bedroom. The aim was to show that no dream is too dreamy to be real, and no fear is too scary to get along with.

The realization of this design involved the use of a decorative light-up as the point of light, and the dark room as the canvas. All light lines seen in the photos were drawn in just 15 to 30 seconds using the long exposure technique. No after-effects or filters were applied after the photos were captured. The camera used was a Cannon EOS 6D with ISO speed of ISO-4000.

The designers faced several challenges in realizing this design. Drawing shapes and characters without seeing what they were drawing and where they were drawing them in the air was the hardest part. The painter had to keep moving all the time so the camera wouldn't capture his/her figure in the photograph, while the model had to stand still without any movements the whole time so the photo wouldn't get blurry.

"Hidden Stories of The Room" is a testament to the power of design and technology in capturing and evoking emotions. It is a journey into the world of childhood imagination, brought to life through the innovative use of light painting photography. The project was awarded the Silver A' Photography and Photo Manipulation Design Award in 2018, a testament to its creativity and professional excellence.