“Lightness of Being” is made through a laborious process that draws attention to the difference between "looking" and "seeing." This new body of work involves outdoor shooting, printing, marking with translucent acrylic, varnish, ink, or oil, and then reshooting at a long exposure. With an 8x10 camera in the field, Soren orchestrates existing light sources: car headlights, flare stacks near oil pumps, glowing windows in suburban neighborhoods, and reflections in mirrors, puddles, and ocean waves.

These works spotlight the glitches in human perception that make it difficult to see the world clearly. When something impairs our vision—like a blindingly bright light or strong emotions accompanied by tears—our brain conjures phenomena that aren’t there. It fills in the gaps.

During the second shoot, Soren uses long exposures and improvised light sources—flashlights, headlamps, colored gels, and studio strobes—to explore the limits of the medium.

 In other words, the artist uses multimedia methods to investigate what was once thought of as the irreducible essence of photography—light.