Motion

Today when I looked out the window I saw that the clouds were starting to cover a large portion of the sky. As time progressed the clouds continued to move and storm clouds took over. The idea that the world is constantly engaged in motion with both nature and the earth’s rotation is highly interesting to me. In my series I want to convey both a sense of life and a sense of dream-like euphoria. I’ve been looking at long-exposure work, thinking about how I could convey a stronger sense of life, presence, and movement. One artist whose work I admire is Micheal Kenna (http://www.michaelkenna.net). His landscapes often seem to have a glow or a shine to them, giving me a peaceful tranquil feeling. They also have a very strong sense of movement, due to his use of long exposure. In an interview Kenna said “Imagine being out at night, alone, under starry skies, listening to silence, watching the world slowly move, all senses alive, thinking, imagining, and dreaming. The camera is recording, creating, documenting, seeing what the eye cannot see - cumulative time [1].” The idea that we are creating something that cannot be seen by the naked eye is very unique. This is in fact because time is always in motion. There is no speeding it up or slowing it down. It just ticks by and therefore every photograph is unique and unrepeatable. Another photographer whose works I believe show incredible use of motion is Joel Tjintejelaar. Much like with the work of Micheal Kenna, there tends to be a strong glow to many of the images. Joel’s comments about why he shoots black and white are intriguing to me “I love Black and White photography because with the removal of color the essence of objects, situations, sceneries and people can become more visible. Can become more visible because it's up to you what you do with contrasts, light, shapes and lines to emphasize the essence, or what you see as the essence - no colors that will seduce the eye, only emotion that will capture the heart [2].” I have long since tossed away the idea of black and white in favor of a very vibrant palette to emphasize what I was interested in. I don’t think my images lack an essence, but I wonder what it was that made my black and white images truly fail in comparison to their color counterparts. I really think some experimentation with long exposures could possibility lead to a great effect for my imagery.

[1] "Michael Kenna: I am privileged to witness amazing things." theLight Jan. 2010: 124-148. Print.

[2] Tijintjelaar, Joel . "Flickr: Joel Tjintjelaar." Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .