Photographer’s Light Painting Tribute to Australian Breakdancing Sensation Raygun
A photographer has made a unique tribute to Australian breakdancing sensation Raygun by recreating the memorable routine she performed at this summer’s Olympic Games.
Darren Pearson, who goes by Dariustwin, animated a series of light painting photos in honor of Raygun’s viral breakdancing routine — even overdubbing the actual sound of her performance on his animation.
According to Digital Camera World, Dariustwin painted and photographed 44 individual images on his Sony Alpha 7R V to create the short video. Each exposure is 60 seconds with the camera set at f/7.1 and ISO 800.
Dariustwin made no mention of the Raygun drama; one of the biggest stories to come out of this year’s Olympics. He simply captioned the post “Raygun” with a little Australian flag and kangaroo.
The kangaroo emoji is a nod to one of Raygun’s most notorious moves she pulled during her routine in which she imitated a marsupial by hopping around with her arms in the puppy paws position.
While Dariustwin avoided commenting on Raygun’s performance, many Instagram users did not hold back with the top comment reading: “This was so much more impressive than the original performance.”
Raygun (real name Rachel Gunn) was accused of embarrassing the sport of breaking and her home country because of her performances at the Games in which she didn’t win a single contest. Her moves quickly went viral for all the wrong reasons and there was even a petition signed by 50,000 people demanding an apology from her.
Raygun took to social media last week to address the controversy.
“Hi everyone, Raygun here,” she said in a video posted on Instagram. “I just wanna start by thanking all the people who have supported me.
“I really appreciate the positivity and I am glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives, that is what I had hoped.
“I didn’t realize that that would also open the door to so much hate which has frankly been pretty devastating.
“While I went out there and had fun, I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics and I gave it my all. Truly.
“I’m honoured to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team and to be part of Breaking’s Olympic debut. What the other athletes have achieved has just been phenomenal.”
