Aerial night photograph by Reuben Wu, via ThisIsColossal

Photographer Reuben Wu has been practicing a new form of his trade using drones–which many people are, nowadays, but none that we know of so far have used this recent technology to create dramatic scenes at night with lighting from above. On his website, Wu writes of this project, titled Lux Noxtis, that it is:

a series of photographs depicting landscapes of North America within the framework of traditional landscape photography but influenced by ideas of planetary exploration,19th century sublime romantic painting, and science fiction.

We are overwhelmed everyday by beautiful images of the familiar. I imagine these scenes transformed into undiscovered landscapes which renew our perceptions of our world.

Each image is a carefully-planned scene consisting of multiple lighting positions to produce a theatrically-lit composition. Using the GPS-enabled aerial light/drones in specific positions in space, I am able to produce moods of drama and tension through use of chiaroscuro, and the ability to illuminate isolated features of a scene and exclude unwanted elements.

These are abstractions of the landscape photograph, or ‘portraits of the landscape’, drawing the attention of the viewer only to the illuminated, in an otherwise overwhelming and vast picture.

Aerial night photograph by Reuben Wu, via his website reubenwu.com