Dean Chamberlain is a

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

who specializes in unique lighting effects and extended exposure times. Famous models for his pictures sit for up to five hours as he leaves the camera shutter open and "paints" the space around them with carried and projected lights of various colors and shapes, creating luminous and colorful images. His technique was described by one of his exhibitions as "Painting With Light Through Time and Space." Chamberlain served as Artist in Residence at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1989. In 1994 his work appeared in ''Nervous Landscapes'', a book which accompanied an exhibition at the Southeast Museum of Photography. He co-founded the Light Space Gallery in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

in 2001, and serves as its co-director. Since 2003 Chamberlain has been a contributor to '' Mao Mag'', an insiders' art and fashion magazine. A documentary of his work is planned for release on Ovation TV in 2010. He has taken art photographs of people from many walks of life. A "Psychedelic Pioneers" series of limited edition prints included portraits of

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

Ram Dass Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and author. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been ...

Albert Hofmann Albert Hofmann (11 January 1906 – 29 April 2008) was a Swiss chemist known for being the first to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann's team also isolated, named and synthesi ...

, Laura Huxley, Alexander Shulgin,

Rick Doblin Richard Elliot Doblin (born November 30, 1953) is an American drug activist and executive who is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Life and career Born in 1953, Doblin grew up ...

Oscar Janiger Oscar Janiger (February 8, 1918 – August 14, 2001) was an experimental psychiatrist and a University of California Irvine psychiatrist and psychotherapist, best known for his LSD research, which lasted from 1954 to 1962. Early life Janiger was ...

, Stan Grof,

Terence McKenna Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was an American ethnobotanist and mystic who advocated the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including ...

, and John C. Lilly.; another series documented artists like

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

and

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-Surface fi ...

. He has also created portraits for musicians such as

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, Duran Duran, Debbie Harry,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, Madonna,

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

, Roy Orbison, and directed music videos using the same long exposure techniques: "This One" for Paul and Linda McCartney, "Missing" for

and "

All She Wants Is "All She Wants Is" is a song by British new wave band Duran Duran. It was released in December 1988 as the second single from the '' Big Thing'' album and reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the Un ...

" for Duran Duran. "All She Wants Is" won an

MTV Video Music Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video categor ...

for innovation. Chamberlain was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He first became interested in photography when he was thirteen using a

Polaroid camera Polaroid may refer to: * Polaroid Corporation, an American company known for its instant film and cameras * Polaroid camera, a brand of instant camera formerly produced by Polaroid Corporation * Polaroid film, instant film, and photographs * Pola ...

, and by fifteen had acquired his first

Konica was a Japanese manufacturer of, among other products, film, film cameras, camera accessories, photographic and photo-processing equipment, photocopiers, fax machines and laser printers, founded in 1873. The company merged with Japanese peer M ...

. He had always wanted to be an artist and was inspired by his grandmother who encouraged him to paint on canvas. He attended

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west- Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

and

Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private research university in the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional ...

and by his early twenties he knew he was a light painter, and has focused on this technique ever since. He was very interested in the psychedelic movement, and became a friend to Timothy Leary late in his life. In 2003 his gallery put on a showing of art and memorabilia that Chamberlain selected from Leary's archives after his death.

References

External links

Official Site

Dean Chamberlain: Light Paintings
Meta Gallery in Toronto, Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Dean American photographers Rochester Institute of Technology alumni Sheridan College alumni Living people People from Boston Year of birth missing (living people)