P | P3 | EX1 Freeze

Amber Houbara
Oct 24, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Oct 25, 2024

Start by doing some of your own research into the photographers discussed above.

Then, using fast shutter speeds, try to isolate a frozen moment of time in a moving subject. Depending on the available light you may have to select a high ISO to avoid visible blur in the photograph. Add a selection of shots, together with relevant shooting data and a description of process (how you captured the images), to your learning log.

Research

“View from the Window at Le Gras” Joseph Nicephore Niepce

Made in 1826 or 1827, titled “View from the Window at Le Gras”, it was the result of 10 years of research by a French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce and is an eight hour exposure. Whilst not immediately striking, this is arguably the most important photograph ever made, this image represents the birth of a whole new genre and a genuine revolution in the art world. The year is somewhere between 1717 and 1727, German scientist Johann Heinrich Schulze, experimenting with mixtures of chalk, nitric acid and silver discovered the mixture darkened when exposed to light.

Source : The Photography Project

To make the heliograph, Niépce dissolved light-sensitive bitumen in oil of lavender and applied a thin coating over a polished pewter plate. He inserted the plate into a camera obscura and positioned it near a window in his second-story workroom. After several days of exposure to sunlight, the plate yielded an impression of the courtyard, outbuildings, and trees outside. Writing about his process in December 1827, Niépce acknowledged that it required further improvements, but was nevertheless "the first uncertain step in a completely new direction."

Source: Harry Ransom Center

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, Paris Boulevard or View of the Boulevard du Temple

An early example of a “daguerreotype,” Paris Boulevard is a significant step in the development of photography. Taken in 1839 by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, the photograph depicts a seemingly empty street in Paris. The elevated viewpoint emphasizes the wide avenues, tree-lined sidewalks, and charming buildings of the French capital. However, the obvious day light of the photograph begs the question—where are all the people in this normally busy city?

The remaining problem of the daguerreotype, at least by modern standards, was the long exposure time, between 10 and 15 minutes. This meant that the people hurrying along those spacious sidewalks did not register on the photograph. The man having his shoes shined, possibly the first photographic image of a person, obviously stayed still long enough to register on the image.

Source: smarthistory

Eadweard J. Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge (/ˌɛdwərd ˈmaɪbrɪdʒ/; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection.

He adopted the first name "Eadweard" as the original Anglo-Saxon form of "Edward", and the surname "Muybridge", believing it to be similarly archaic.[1] A noted photographer in the 19th century American West, he photographed Yosemite, San Francisco, the newly acquired Alaskan Territory, subjects involved in the Modoc War, and lighthouses on the West Coast. He also made his early "moving" picture studies in California.

Source: Wikipedia

The splash of a drop

A gifted teacher, Edgerton was a keen student as well. “I have always empathized with the student who sees new discoveries and knowledge that were not anticipated flowing from the laboratory,” he wrote in 1987. “There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ result or a complete study of a phenomenon. For example, although I’ve tried for years to photograph a drop of milk splashing on a plate with all the coronet’s points spaced equally apart, I have never succeeded.”

Source: MM

Moma

Art Institvte

PHILIP LORCA DICORCIA: HEAD ON

I really like this work, and how diCorcia managed to isolate the heads using the scaffholding shade and flashes.

However, the whole complication of the court and using people's faces without permission feels a bit uncomfortable for me, especially the fact on this video he is not showing much empathy to the person's feeling of not wanting to be on camera, however it is possible to see that behind his 'cold words, he does feel emotions regarding it.

Though diCorcia walked away unscathed, this lawsuit remains a touchstone for the discourse on the ethics of street photography and the layman’s perception towards the traditional use of public spaces, whether it be a free-for-all for artistic expression or an invasion of privacy. What then should we make of a society in which imagery and information is as free-flowing as water? What happens now as our world grows into a surveillance state and our faces, taken as we are strolling down the street, is captured infinitely.

Source: Musse'e

Freeze

I decided to use my therapeutical sound bowls for this exercise, as they create very cool shapes when pouring water into them and then striking them.

I took one sound bowl at sunset to the beach, the light was very beautiful and I found 100 ISO did work pretty well.

I set my shutter to 1/250, on shutter priority mode.

I learnt this is a good range for freezing a movement from the Skillshare course I did Fundamentals of DSLR Photography by Photo Essentials x Justin Bridges.

As a part of the course when I learnt Sound Massage - which is the therapy technique with these sound bowls, we learn how sound travel through the body and when banging strongly and rapidly on the sound bowl, while filled with water, the water creates pretty cool shapes and also splashes everywhere.

This was obviously inspired by the milk drop of Edgerton.

However I didn't really want to be too obvious, and the photos I liked the most are actually the mandala like shapes the water made from the vibrations of the bowls.

These are my two favourtive images, I love the fact that it is also visable to see the brand of the bowls (eg. if it was a branded job) through the movement of the water.

I also love how the gold of the bowls and the sun is reflecting in the movement shapes.

I did edit the colors a tiny bit, adding some exposure and some color enhancing on Adobe Camera Raw (PS)

Reflection

I think maybe trying to change the ISO could have maybe bring even better results re- blur and focus, however I am very content with the results and really love the images.

I really enjoyed this exercise.