We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Bly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

So normally with photography it’s a point and shoot concept that involves a subject and whatever environment they’re in. The goal is to have a memorable experience in a beautiful setting and capture that moment forever. However my type of photography is light painting and it has the same point and shoot framework except I do one thing differently…

I’m also on the other side of the camera using a repertoire of light painting instruments to enhance the photo!

Light painting involves using a flashlight with a multitude of attachments. Like a fiberoptic brush or some plexiglass that is carved into a shape to “paint” around my subject or in some cases make a subject for my photos. It’s all taken with a technique with a camera called long exposure in which the camera’s shutter stays open for a long period of time to take a constant photo that picks up trails from my light painting instruments! The results are very surreal and ethereal looking compositions that are differing from the industry norm!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

So my name is Michael Bly though I just go by my last name Bly! There’s a little too many Michaels out there in the world so I introduce myself as Bly to anyone new I meet!

It’s a interesting story about how I got into light painting and it all started about 10 years ago… A decade ago I started my journey as FireBly a fire performance artist in where I spin a multitude of props while on fire. (Before you ask yes…Yes I have burned myself haha) While I was out performing I met a good number of photographers and did a good number of shoots because who doesn’t like to photograph a human on fire? Ha! Some of these photographers used Long exposure techniques to photograph the fire trails and the photos always turned out spectacular! I started using an app on my phone back in 2014 to do a little long exposure photography myself and for some friends while we we’re spinning fire props and LED props. I stopped a couple of months after because I didn’t quite have the money for a expensive camera to get those high quality photos I was looking to attain, Fast forward 8 years and I finally convinced myself to buy a nice camera and start diving into light painting like I wanted too soo many years ago! Since then it’s just been a whole lot of trail and error but mostly fun as I’m learning more and more about the art of light painting!!

The type of product I offer as a light painter is stylized photoshoots! You’ll get some pretty unique looking photos that you won’t typically find out in the photography world with me and I offer additional services like animating photos, making prints, and creating video’s of the photoshoot experience.

As far as solving problems for my clients I believe my strongest point is that I’m actually providing things from out the normal scope of photography. A lot of people come to me just because I’m offering a unique product that stands out. It’s the same as walking into a ballroom with a fancy suit on. If everyone has a similar suit on you blend in with crowd even though its a fancy suit. Want to garner some attention and make a Impact? Wear a suit yes, but strap that suit with LED’s and let it shine. I promise others will have a hard time looking away and will remember your suit for quite some time!

My work that I’m most proud of? Honestly my work with fiberoptic brushes with a human subject are what I’m most proud of right now! The way all the exposures turn out just look soo otherworldly and surreal! It’s almost as if energy is enveloping the person or emanating from them like the sun giving off warmth.

The only thing I really think people should know about me and my work is that it is a bit of a process when doing a shoot with me. Because of the nature of long exposure I normally get a fraction of the pictures in a session than other photographers. Most photographers can get 15-20 useable exposures in a 1 hour period while for me I’m satisfied to get 6 to 8 photos in a hour. This is because when using long exposure one picture can take 10 seconds to 1 minute to shoot and most of the time I do 3 shots per pose just to make sure I can get the light painting aspect done right to frame the subject how I envision it to be in my mind. Light painting definitely requires patience!!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I really thing the reward I get from making art is about the same as any other artist that I meet. It’s the ability to bring something birthed from thought and mold it into reality. It’s the ultimate experience for a creative! It’s the feeling and accomplishment we seek to achieve when we bring something into the world that we made from our own hands!

An aspect that that is individually rewarding for my particular field is community! I’ve met soo many unique individuals and shared some amazing moments that are captured all through the eye of my lens!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice

Funny enough I’m actually looking into making some of my art into NFTs. They represent something that has been ever prevalent in art since the old times and it’s the buying and selling of art! NFTs are just a particular twist on the art trade that brings a investment aspect with it. Any platform/ way that gives artists the power to sell their art is a win in my book!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photomancy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhotomancyPhotography
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@photomancy Clapper: https://clapperapp.com/photomancy Vero: https://vero.co/photomancy

Image Credits
Models: Kristen Ed, Liz Lundholm, Teirani Render, Hannah Malone, Ryan Shadis, Severyn Beekman