reuben wu draws aerial geometries with drones and lasers across remote landscapes

reuben wu turns synthetic light into a sculptural language

Multidisciplinary visual artist, photographer, and director Reuben Wu inscribes light onto remote natural environments through experimental photographic interventions in his latest series, Thin Places. Known for his haunting aerial compositions using drones, lasers, and long exposures, the artist has developed a unique visual language that brings photography, design, and speculative technology together. In Thin Places, Wu frames landscapes where artificial light and natural terrain seem to meet halfway. The images are captured entirely on-site, in single exposures, using drones and lasers to trace fleeting geometries into the environment.

One standout work from the series, Surface Tension, was photographed at a remote salt lake under a moonless sky. Using a custom aerial laser swept just above the water’s surface, Wu renders a floating curtain of light, revealing crystalline salt structures caught between the stars above and their reflections below. 

all images by Reuben Wu

Thin Places builds on the foundation of SIREN series

The project’s title, Thin Places, references a Celtic notion of geographical thresholds, spaces where the boundary between the physical and the spiritual dissolves. Wu interprets this concept through interventions with light, shaping fields of perception without altering the land. 

Thin Places follows the Chicago-based artist’s earlier series SIREN, a triptych made in August 2024 on the shores of Lake Michigan, which marked a turning point in his approach. There, vertical shafts of drone light play against the presence of an unexpected aurora. These early works laid the groundwork for the more atmospheric and spatially abstract compositions in Thin Places, where light becomes a sculptural medium.

Wu uses a 102MP Fujifilm GFX100RF medium format system and manually guided lighting technologies in his process, which remains entirely analog in execution, and creates each image in-camera. The work doesn’t follow the usual approach when it comes to landscape photography, as it doesn’t rely on post-production or compositing. The resulting photographs depend on timing, endurance, and precision and feel like documentation of extraterrestrial phenomena — yet they are rooted in this world, shaped by the unpredictable conditions of wind, terrain, and moonlight.

Reuben Wu inscribes light onto remote natural environments in his latest series, Thin Places

the project’s title, Thin Places, references a Celtic notion of geographical thresholds

the visual artist is known for his haunting aerial compositions

Thin Places follows the Chicago-based artist’s earlier series SIREN

vertical shafts of drone light play against the presence of an unexpected aurora

Wu uses a 102MP Fujifilm GFX100RF medium format system

the work doesn’t rely on post-production or compositing

shaping fields of perception without altering the land

project info:

name: Thin Places, SIREN

photographer: Reuben Wu | @reuben