Time and the fleeting momentJohn Szarkowski’s The Photographer’s Eye (excerpt on Time)

Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 – Duchamp

Muybridge

Harold Eugene Edgerton and Gjon MiliThey were largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device. He also was deeply involved with the development of sonar and deep-sea photography.

Edgerton was a Professor and both were engineers at MIT. Mili did a series of images for TIME magazine using the stroboscope.

Milk Drop Coronet, 1957Dye transfer photograph

Cranberry Juice into Milk, 1960Dye transfer photograph

.30 Bullet Piercing an Apple, 1964Dye transfer photographBullet Through Banana, 1984

Dye transfer photograph

The Decisive MomentWhat is the “decisive moment” that was first coined by Cartier-Bresson?

• The poetry of the Everyday• Signs• Patterns• “the momentary patterning of lines and shapes that had be

previously consealed within the flux of time.”

As a photographer, how do you see time now? Thinking about the pinhole assignment to your first roll of film; you can even think about how time changes with taking images with your phone.

Henri Cartier-BressonHe was a French 20th century photographer considered to be the father of photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the street photography or life reportage style that was coined The Decisive Moment that has influenced generations of photographers who followed.

How to capture time and moment?

Its all about patience, being aware, and ready with your camera.

The 35mm is light and easy to get a quick shot of the subject in action.

Think about composition and move yourself around the image.

Think about geometry and your eye creating a visual story.

Think about other artworks, and apply them to your process when shooting.

Get in the action

Technique to show movement in photography.

Panning is the horizontal movement of a camera as it scans a moving subject.

When you pan you’re moving your camera in synchronicity with your subject as it moves parallel to you.

Proper panning implies motion. However, panning creates the feeling of motion and speed without blurring the subject as a slow shutter speed sans panning would tend to do.

Panning

Not Panning

5 Tips for Successful Panning

1. Panning requires a steady hand and a relatively slow shutter speed.

The actual shutter speed depends on the speed of the subject but generally it will be 1/200th or slower. 1/200th if your subject is really flying along, like a speeding car on a race track, and maybe as slow as 1/40th of a second if your subject is a runner on a track.

2. Keep in mind that the faster your shutter speed is the easier it will be to keep your subject crisp.

Especially as you’re learning the art of panning, don’t slow your shutter down too much. Just keep it slow enough to begin to show some motion. As your confidence increases and you’ve got the hang of things, go ahead and slow your shutter more and more to show even further pronounced motion and thus separation of your speeding subject from the background.

3. Make sure your subject remains in the same portion of the frame during the entire exposure: this will ensure a crisp, sharp subject.

4. Remember that the faster your subject is moving the more difficult it will be to pan.

This point goes right along with number 3. It’s harder to keep your subject in the same portion of the frame if it’s moving faster than you are able to. So again, start with something a little slower and then progress from there.

5. Have fun! and if at first you don’t succeed, try again.

Long Exposure

• Slow down shutter speed to 1/30 and longer. Great for night photography.

• Set Camera on tripod or table. Not for hand held shooting.

• Increase your aperture to meter correctly.• Lower ISO

A higher number will make it more sensitive to light and a lower number will make the sensor less sensitive. Choose a low number and you’ll find yourself able to choose longer shutter speeds.

Tilt: Moving the cameras lens up or down while keeping its horizontal axis constant. Nod your head up and down - this is tilting.

Zoom: Zooming is one camera move that most people are probably familiar with. It involves changing the focal length of the lens to make the subject appear closer or further away in the frame. Most video cameras today have built-in zoom features. Some have manual zooms as well, and many have several zoom speeds. Zooming is one of the most frequently-used camera moves and one of the most overused. Use it carefully.

This weekend you will try to capture movement and time.

How will you explore the “decisive moment” in your present.

Will you see a change in your point of view? How will you see time?

Shoot one to two rolls of film by next class.