Spacetime Light Sculptures by Elliot McGucken

American fine art photographer and physicist Dr. Elliot McGucken turns remote landscapes into stages for luminous cosmic events, suspending spiraling forms of light above deserts, rock formations, coastlines and mountain ranges.

His ongoing series, Spacetime Light Cone Sculptures dx4/dt=ic, draws from Einstein’s theory of relativity and the idea of the light cone, a geometric model used to describe the relationship between space, time and the speed of light. Elliot translates that concept into sweeping long-exposure photographs, using drone-mounted lights to trace glowing cones and hourglass forms through the night sky.

Above the Trona Pinnacles, Alabama Hills and other dramatic locations, the light sculptures appear like portals, celestial diagrams or strange signals from another dimension. Elliot’s background as an award-winning physicist gives the work its conceptual backbone, but the images are just as driven by wonder: the scale of the land, the movement of the stars and the simple beauty of light drawing through darkness.

For more of Elliot McGucken’s work, visit his website and follow him on Instagram.

More light paintings via Colossal