Glow sticks turn campers into ghosts at night
On the western side of Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, about 200 acres of land becomes the home for hundreds of kids and young adults each summer — Camp Seneca Lake.
An old stomping ground for my brother and sister who attended the camp when they were young and are now part of the staff, I spent time there this month documenting the camp’s annual climactic event ‘Color War.’
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- Chaos ensues on the battlefield during the Color War ‘Illumination’ event, which involved the entire camp and thousands of glow sticks. (Jon Sham)
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- Members of the planning committee would throw the glow sticks in the air individually and in piles to spread them across the field, creating the effects you can see in the top right of this photo. (Jon Sham)
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- As a camper wearing blue glow sticks runs by, only a trail of blue light is left behind. (Jon Sham)
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- Campers could connect the ends of glow sticks and ring toss them one of these sticks from a distance. (Jon Sham)
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- To the right in this picture, you can see a camper, wear red glow sticks on his or her arms and head, reach down to pick up one of the glow sticks. (Jon Sham)
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- At peak moments in the competition, campers from both teams ran around the field collecting glow sticks. (Jon Sham)
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- A red glow stick twirls near the ground before it settles in the grass by others. (Jon Sham)
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- Motionless glow sticks on the ground are contrasted by the constant movement of the campers wearing glow sticks around their necks and arms. (Jon Sham)
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- Dozens of blue streaks fill the frame as the blue team scours the field for its glow sticks. (Jon Sham)
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- After the event, a camper shows his exhausted by lying on the pile of collected glow sticks. (Jon Sham)
Color War is a term used at many sleep-away summer camps in the Northeast and refers to the time when everyone — campers and staff — is split into teams and compete. They compete in sports, creative events and other events that you might only see at camp, like the one shown in these pictures that they called the “Illumination.”
The Color War “break” is a signature that many camps take pride in. No one is ever supposed to know where, when or how Color War begins until the big reveal. Camp Seneca Lake chose to do it at night, in an empty field and with thousands and thousands of glow sticks.
These pictures were taken after the “break,” where campers were given glow sticks (either red or blue, depending on their team) to wear around their necks and arms. I used a tripod to keep the camera steady for these long exposure shots, but no other effects were used. They were shot at ISO 1600 and about a one-second shutter speed. Other pictures I saw taken without a tripod resulted in color blur created by the cameraperson’s movement.
Below is a video of some of the events during Color War.
Camp Seneca Lake Color War 2012 documentary preview from Camp Seneca Lake on Vimeo.
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