Daniel Temkin: Light Pattern

Learn Daniel Temkin’s Light Pattern which is a language where the programmer communicates with the machine through photos. 

The source code, rather than appearing as text (perhaps of the “goto 10″ variety) is encoded in changes in color and exposure from one image to the next. In a daily photo practice, Temkin attempts to communicate with the machine by producing images according to the specifications of the compiler.

The Hello, World! series is built with incidental images, arranged to produce the most basic of programs. Although the machine disregards the content of the photos (reading them purely in technical terms), the images produce secondary meanings; moments of affect which come naturally to human communication, even when actively discouraged.

Other programs engage the subject matter of their source code, such as the Recursive Program. This program is created by an automated camera and filter wheel (controlled by Arduino) that photographs itself in the mirror in order to build a program that calls itself in endless repetition. Three Lamp Events writes the score for George Brecht’s event score using exposures of lamps themselves.