Erich Hartmann Laser light on wall above a sleeping woman. Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. 1977.
“I have long been interested in making photographs in which the subject matter before me would be augmented (and ther
(...) efore changed) by the introduction of an external factor. I believed that the combination of the two elements would transform commonplace and familiar scenes into sometimes unpredictable and always totally personal statements by relating what existed with what I chose to add to it. Here the external element is light — from a weak helium neon laser. The means of directing the laser within an environment is based on miniaturization of scanning devices, mostly of my own design.”
– From the writings of Erich Hartmann
“In this photograph Erich has directed points of refracted laser light onto the walls and ceiling of
the bedroom of a sleeping woman. The resulting image can be imagined as a sleeper — a dreamer.”
– Ruth Bains Hartmann © Erich Hartmann | Magnum Photos
