Light owl

Take a projector outdoors at night and direct images and shapes at the natural world to create amazing artwork with James Paterson

- James Paterson

If photography is – as is often said – painting with light, then a projector is like a full set of spray cans. It lets us spray colours and shapes onto any surface. Typically the surface is flat and white, but a projector can be put to more creative uses too. Here, we’ll take our projector into the great outdoors after dark for some otherworldly arty photos. Inspired by the work of Spanish installation artist Javier Riera, we’ll project bold shapes and geometric patterns onto natural and man-made forms. There are several challenges to overcome. The first is setting up a projector for outdoor use, which requires fixing it to a tripod and arranging a source of power.