Poe Too

Have you ever used the video features of your camera? Not many of us still photographers do, even though we may make smartphone movies all the time. Why? Processing. Our little phones do all the heavy lifting for us.

Fortunately, that’s not the point of this assignment, which is motion. We don’t need to shoot video to display motion. Yes, we could punch the shutter release button 30 times per second ourselves, but we’d end up with a ton of still photographs along with carpal tunnel and painful blisters. That’s all video is - a huge stack of single frames displayed sequentially to trick us into seeing motion. But we can create "motion pictures" in many other ways, and sometimes even more creatively. Let’s explore some for this assignment.

By the way, if you want to shoot video for this assignment, by all means do so.

Suggesting motion with a single still photograph is easy; we do it all the time. Nearly all photographs include some kind of motion, sometimes obvious, other times subtle. Simply adjusting shutter speed is the simplest method of controlling the result. A fast shutter speed can trap a bird in flight or a baseball cracking off a bat. A slower speed might blur the background of a passing bicyclist as we pan to match his movement. An ultra-slow shutter with an ND filter can transform splashy waves into misty and mysterious zen calm. Camera and lens controls offer opportunity for more motion experiments than we’ve thought up yet.

Motion is relative. A speeding bullet and the passage of a shadow outside are on opposite ends of our normal motion spectrum. Both can be captured by our cameras with a little technical know-how and an application of patience. Adding a flash expands time; timelapse compresses it. Secrets of motion are revealed in each case.

Nothing we see through a viewfinder is really still. Matter is a 99.9999%* empty stage for atomic particlewaves to weave and bob their hypnotic quantum dance for our eyes. Light traveling at 186k mps bounces off surfaces and crashes into literally everything as it illuminates an apple, Fido, and that ridiculous lawyer billboard in the background. Is there any such thing as still photography?

Motion can be introspective, reflecting the photographer’s inner state. An agitated spirit will produce a different vision than one in a contemplative state. A photograph might “move” me, lifting me out of myself into another’s skin. One photograph may attract one person and repel another. Our inner sea may reflect our environment, as if walking with a happy crowd of people on a city street; or it may be out of sync, riding in the back of a temperature controlled limo listening to classical music as a riot wreaks havoc outside. And vice versa.

Motion might be abstracted - the tilt of a font, a bold color, a delicate gesture. A knowing wink may signal movement toward a shared secret, a glare may telegraph hostile intent. A line or a shape might trigger a memory way way back before we knew its name.

The most demanding and rewarding motion picture might employ e-motion. The etymology of emotion is from the Latin e- +movere = to move. If you wanna feel this assignment, you gotta move.

I have a notion that we live in an ocean of motion. Don't need no potion for devotion to motion.

We’ll shoot MOTION PICTURES for the next two weeks, from March 13 through March 26. You can wear a black beret and use a director’s chair if it makes you feel better. And as director, you get to interpret your motion picture any way you want.

Happy shooting!

*Approximately 0.0000000000000000000042 percent of the universe is matter, which means approximately 99.9999999999999999999952 percent of the universe is EMPTY space.

NOTES:

• If you'd like to share in these workouts with other people (always a great idea), you're invited to join my Facebook Photo Assignment group where you can post images and comments, learn from others, and help other budding photographers learn our amazing craft. 
• If you're interested in bettering your Photoshop and Lightroom skills, I have an aptly named second Facebook group called Circle of Confusion. You're invited to join it, as well, but you'll need to be a Photo Assignment member first. Join both and you're good to go.