#94 It’s Not a Painting
September 1st, 2010
An experiment in light and motion
I Did That On Purpose
To see what I could see. A recent phenomenon in photography has accomplished experts using several thousand dollars worth of equipment to produce blurry photographs. On purpose. On Flickr is a group centered around “deliberate blur” and landscape masters William Neill and Alain Briot have done a lot with the technique.
Me, I’m not so sure. I sort of like what I’ve done here, but it surely seems to me to be a waste of the exquisite machinery of Messrs. Hasselblad and Zeiss.
I can tell you this; like still life, deliberate blur is a lot harder than it looks.
September 1st, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I like it! A little strange to look at – at first glance, but it’s cool. Almost looks like a painting that’s been wiped while it’s drying…especially in the top right corner. Gettin’ ready for ‘Earl’s visit. Won’t need your technique taking pictures if Earl stops by.
September 3rd, 2010 at 6:24 pm
I remember this from photography 101. It was called “panning” back in the day. You could blur the whole scene as you did, or pan something in motion (like a person running) to get a combination of blur and fixed. Strikes me as funny that there’s a whole flickr group devoted to it. I guess I’m really old in photography years. I worked with paper and toxic chemicals. And magic. Lots of magic.
Like what you’ve done here.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:16 am
I, too , worked heavily with the toxic chemicals, but now off-shore that to those who make the sensors and computer chips. The more I get into digital, the more I discover that the process, as magical as the chemicals and silver halide can seem, does not matter, so long as there is a process and the process leads to worthy work. I don’t think I’ll pursue deliberate blur, but I can see how others find it fascinating. I’m a follower of Monet, and he certainly exemplified the concept, albeit by a different process.