Today was an incredibly busy and productive day for SoPro: We had several meetings, both planned and spontaneous, that set several exciting things into motion. But the best part of the day was getting to do all this in downtown Gainesville. Which reminds me how much we at SoPro love to live here.

We’re gearing up for the Drew Holcomb/Michael Claytor/Light Writing Show. We’ve made tickets available to purchase at the Exchange. The first 20 tickets sold from the Exchange will have special reserved seating at the show...so you’ll want to rush out before those first few are all gone.

A lot of you are asking what light writing is. The technique of light writing is actually very old. Even in the days when the artistic possibilities of the film camera were being explored in the early 20th century, photographers already knew that you could create an optical illusion of light becoming fluid enough that you could write or draw with it — and capture those images on film. The first image of light writing was actually produced back in 1949 by a man using only a handheld light source and a camera. Renowned more for his brilliant paintings and sculptures, the great Pablo Picasso introduced what would become one of the most astounding, eye-catching effects in modern photography.

Here he is, in all his black and white, and shirtless, glory:

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