A Study of Time
- Luke Miller
- Sep 2, 2019
- 3 min read
The first project we did in my Photo 161 class was time, where we were supposed to experiment with long exposure. It wasn't a particularly hard task, unless you are a beginning photographer and you don't have a neutral density filter. I realize you may not understand what that is, so I will explain.
Long exposure means that the shutter is open longer, so you are letting in more light. This allows for the ghostly effect you see in some photos or pictures of cities with streaks of lights from cars driving. But because you are letting in more light, if you decide to take pictures during the day, you'll probably end up with a rectangle of white for your picture. To fix this, people use neutral density filters. Neutral density filters are like sunglasses for your camera. It adds a layer of shade so the amount of light isn't too overwhelming.
So, I'm sure you can understand my problem now. To counteract this problem, I experimented in some of my free time to understand how light works in this situation. In other words, I tried to make my dorm room as dark as possible during the day, much like many early 2000s high school Twilight fans.
Out of the photos I took that day, this was my favorite. It's not a perfect picture, and it certainly is not museum quality, but I like how it shows my new understanding of long exposure.
An explanation of the meaning behind We're Just Ghosts. The idea I was trying to convey through this photo is that people are creatures of habit and are prisoners of routine. I do not consider this a bad thing, but for some people it is a prison. I included many things that I enjoy or do habitually to help communicate this meaning, such as knitting, my headphones, books, video games, and my computer.
For Thirsty, I was hoping to experiment with water and how it looks with long exposure, but Lincoln is severely lacking in fast moving water (i.e. rivers, oceans, waterfalls) for me to photograph. At the time my boyfriend gave me this plant to take care of because I am better with plants than he, and I thought it would be interesting to see how water poured over the plant. I was unenthused by the result, but I still liked the picture.
I was hanging out with my boyfriend on a snow day when I took Deserted. There isn't a particular meaning behind it other than my own frustration. I was trying to capture the motion of people going in and out of the dining hall across the street, but because of the day off, not many people were there.
On the same day, while I was goofing around taking pictures, he was just quietly knitting. I thought it would be cool to capture knitting in motion, and I was really happy with the result.
Busy was taken the same day as We're Just Ghosts. I really wanted to take a cliché "city" picture and the street outside my dorm was busy enough to do that. However, it was cold out, so I did not open my window. The dorm windows have non-removable screens, which caused the starburst effects on the streetlights, and I thought that was really cool.
So, in conclusion, I gained a better understanding of time lapse photos. I was not focused on composition, color, or anything else; I was just focused on exploring time with photography.
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