Belarussians in costumes sing songs during the traditional rite of Shchadrets (Schedry vecher or Generous Eve) in the village of Osovo, some 190 km from Minsk, Belarus, 13 January 2015. Shchadrets is a Belarusian folk holiday celebrated on the New Year's Eve in accordance with the Julian calendar (Old New Year). The holiday is similar to Koliady, when youth in costumes walk from house to house singing holiday songs, performing, and asking for a reward afterwards. (Photo by Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA)

Blind and visually impaired Palestinian students walk down the stairs at a school, where they are taught English through song and music, at a school in the West Bank city of Hebron March 2, 2016. Palestinian students at a school for the blind in the West Bank are learning English through song, a welcome departure from using braille and memorising grammar rules. While students are delighted with the change, some parents in the religiously conservative town of Hebron are concerned that using music in the classroom jars with Islamic tradition. (Photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters)

The Northern Lights glow green in a spectacular light show above a field of trees frozen solid with snow. (Photo by Jaak Sarv/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Clearing skies await a tripod-toting photographer looking for a spot to capture the early-morning light at Portland Head Light, Thursday, January 17, 2013, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

A tourist jumps inside an upside-down house at Fengjing Ancient Town, Jinshan District, south of Shanghai, May 1, 2014. The upside-down house was built as a tourist attraction using everyday household items and furniture. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Bicycles of various bike-sharing services are seen at an urban village in smog during a polluted day in Shanghai, 2017. Rapid expansion of shared bicycle companies across China has led to massive piles of abandoned bikes as supply outstrips demand. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Cha Huilan, a 40-year old Lisu woman, and her daughter leave Lazimi village with a zipline across the Nu River in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province, China, March 24, 2018. Chinese mountain villagers, cut off from shops and churches by a raging river, use a zipline to cross its violent rapids and jagged rocks. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)