BY KRISTINE LIAO, Staff Writer
With another year winding down at Laguna Beach's signature Festival of Arts, here's a look at three diverse artists who helped to bring the show to life this year:
CHRISTOPHER ALLWINE, PHOTOGRAPHER
Christopher Allwine was strolling around a remote scrapyard in the Mojave Desert and listening to his iPod when he came across a beat up 1959 Chrysler in front of an old freeway sign.
"When I walked past this car, Ritchie Valens came on, 'Oh Donna', from the 50's," Allwine said. "And I just saw this car, along with this blank wooden board - and I saw a drive-in. I knew that as soon as night came around, I was going to try to recreate a nostalgic, dreamlike visual of a classic drive-in theater featuring this great vehicle from that era."
This photograph, "Date Night," is part of Allwine's 'light painting' series debuting at the Festival of Arts this summer. Allwine worked on the collection for two years and returned to the scrapyard several times.
The process of Allwine's light painting photographs requires pitch dark conditions, along with a camera, tripod, remote shutter release, and handheld lighting tools. He enters the composition to create effects using lights while his camera's shutter stays open.
"It's definitely not a simple matter of just pressing a camera button and hearing a couple of clicks," Allwine said. "I'm constantly in motion and I have to be very meticulous about where to shine the lights. It can take a very long time, sometimes hours, and a lot of trial and error."
Allwine has been fascinated with photography since childhood. Raised by a father who voiced Mickey Mouse and a mother who animated many of the original "Star Wars" films, Allwine grew up in a creatively talented family.
He spent time studying business, voiceover, and daytime landscape photography until he took an astrophotography workshop in 2013 - which introduced him to the long-exposure techniques he now utilizes in his light painting photographs.
"Once I discovered long-exposure techniques, I became enamored with the storytelling qualities," Allwine said.
Exhibiting at the Festival of Arts had been a goal of Allwine's since he first decided to focus on fine art imagery. He has previously exhibited at the Orange County Fair, Sawdust Art Festival and Art-A-Fair before appearing at the Festival of Arts this summer.
"I really wanted to challenge myself as an artist for this debut series, so I decided, you know what, I'm going to go to a junkyard and find things people have thrown away and give them new life," Allwine said. "Because a beat-up '59 Chrysler still has some dignity to it."
Allwine's photography is showcased at booth No. 49 now through August 31.