capturing movement

With photography, people can capture what they see and share it with others. It may sound like a very simple and not so creative process, but it may surprise people how differently different people can see the same scene. On top of this, photography opens up the door to a world we can’t actually see with our own eyes, which is something people rarely realize. This is done by capturing light during a longer period of time than our eyes can – it is surprising how much light there is even in the darkest of places.

Movement is one of the things we can experience in a new way, thanks to photography. We see movement, of course, but we can’t see movement the way we can if we photograph it. The technique is simple, but has many possibilities. The only thing we need to do is use a long shutter speed, thus letting in light from the scene for a long time. Someday soon I’ll make a post about how this same principle can be used to create art by moving the light-capturing device itself (intentional camera movement), but today I’ll show pictures of the possibilities in capturing movement in a scene. With this technique, we can create ghosts,

watch the power of flowing water (Gullfoss, Iceland and Sarek national park, Sweden),

see an apparent mist cover a black rock (slowly moving water captured over 3 minutes),

notice how the ocean slowly creeps in over the shore (near Jökulsárlón, Iceland),

capture a sand storm in a frame (Morocco),

let the different elements of a coastal city combine (Rabat, Morocco),

be stunned by the constructions we’ve made and the foolhardiness we possess (a carousel in Copenhagen, Denmark),

and pay attention to the ways, sometimes beautiful, that we destroy the very water we thrive on (sewage water pouring into the Atlantic near Rabat, Morocco).

Few people realize the vast opportunities possessed by someone with a camera – and using the device is at best a way to constantly find new ways of doing this. Like any art creation, photography is a life-long learning process.

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Tags: art, ghost, landscape, movement, nature, photography, sand, sarek national park, scene, shutter speed, slow, urban, water, waterscape

• June 28, 2012
• Landscape, Nature, Photography, Travel, Waterscape
• 6 comments