A woman looks out of a dusty window after boarding a bus to be transported to see the casket of Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday December 11, 2013. On Thursday, December 5, 2013, Mandela died at the age of 95. (Photo by Markus Schreiber/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.

China's Gu Ailing Eileen waits to see her score as she competes in the freestyle skiing women's freeski slopestyle final run during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Genting Snow Park H & S Stadium in Zhangjiakou on February 15, 2022. (Photo by Marco Bertorello/AFP Photo)

Visitors were able to pick their own flowers on this sunflower trail at Gloagburn Farm near Perth, in Scotland on September 13, 2021. Crawford Niven, a farmer, said he was inspired to make the trail, which is made up of nearly 200,000 plants, after seeing similar ones in America and Australia. (Photo by South West News Service)

Motocross riders compete on the beach on October 15, 2023 in Weymouth, United Kingdom. The motocross event, which first came to the town in 1984, organised by Weymouth and Portland Lions Club in association with Purbeck Motocross Club, sees over 300 riders compete over a course along Weymouth beach. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

A model wears a see-through dress during South African designer Gavin Rajah's show during Johannesburg Fashion Week 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, November 9, 2023. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo)

“I was doing some event shooting for Bar One's Beer And Wine garden. I was working with these two ladies when all of a sudden I hear an "excuse me” and I see dude step into the frame right when I pressed the shutter button!” (Photo by 17thletter Photography)

A young girls holds a ballot during the Greek referendum in Athens on July 5, 2015. Greek voters headed to the polls today to vote in a historic, tightly fought referendum on whether to accept worsening austerity in exchange for more bailout funds, in a gamble that could see it crash out of the euro. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP Photo)