Time-Flow Photography

TIME-FLOW PHOTOGRAPHY
 My Birthday Blog: 
 This is the 5th year I have posted a blog on my birthday 

Experimenting With Slow Shutter Speed Digital Photography

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

~ Albert Einstein ~

In 2000 I crossed an invisible threshold

one that other photographers could have crossed

but which few had

Deliberately, I bought a digital camera

that would expose for seconds

and not fractions

I had guessed that there was a world

unseen and that the new technology

with its instant feedback

would give me the tool I needed

Later I would understand

that my life had been leading to this point:

A notebook about Einstein and space-time

written at age thirteen

and my decade long detour into computers

plus my study of Muybridge's figures in motion

meant that I was up-to-speed

with the new photographic medium

still in its infancy

Not understanding the dimensions

of this world at first

it took a while to get my bearings

I did it step by step:

First mounting a tripod

next to the dash

so that my camera peered

through the windshield

into the dark vanishing point

of the highway

For 8 seconds

points of light stretched across time

until the shutter closed –

now strung with bright yellow dashes

from blinking warning lights,

now streaked blood red from top to bottom

with brake and stop lights

as I slowed into stalled traffic

Prowling the highways

I cruised the dark back streets and brightly lit bridges

and coasted through the city's main drag,

all the while keeping my eye peeled

for flashing lights

neon, areas of glass and

shiny metal that added reflections

I did this

on clear nights or

when a low cloud cover lit the sky

I did this in hard rain, drizzle and mist –

the wetness acting like a mirror and a lens

After months

I pulled the camera off the tripod

and shot handheld –

the wavy lines more interesting

than the straightness

imposed by the tripod

Soon I parked the car

and panned in rhythm

to cars creeping through the downtown

or people walking on the waterfront

Then against the blackness

I took 8 second shots of my wife

from the passenger side

as she drove her car

lights streaming behind her

And later musicians on stages

their movement painted

against the blank canvas

of the night

Somewhere along the way

I began to 'get it'

What I was doing was expressive

– as I had hoped –

but more than that

these shots were glimpses

of movement through time

Where the passing moment

was now smeared across the frame

NOTE: This poem is from a book of auto-biographical poems 

I wrote about my creative evolution and the creative process in 2010.

You can view and/or download a free PDF copy of  my book by clicking on this link:

Living My Life As an Artist, an Autobiography: 

True Stories of Art, Love, Family & the Creative Process Told in Poetic Form