ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY by Joe Marvullo Time Vision The Acropolis at night was taken with infrared film and exposed without a filter. A 400mm lens was used at F:32 with a ten second exposure to create a vivid effect. is the language both of scientificand phoIt is in the realm of time and space that still photography takes leave of the tographic art. The speeding car can be world of exact seeing where the "nor- stopped cold and isolated as a "frozen" mal" fixation of things in recognizable instant where every detail can be seen order is transformed into a new plane of in precise focus; even the fast-moving focus. It is in this new plane of focus wheels are sharp when recorded at a where the free-movingspectrum of "time l/1000th of a second. The same racing vision" becomes a new means of expres- speed can be illustrated as streaks of sion. Action is recorded in frames of color across the frame of the film when color and movement that the eye could exposed at a slow shutter speed such as never see at the time the actual expo- l/8th of a second. What the photograph sure was made. can capture is beyond the observation The mechanics of the modern camera capabilities of the human eye, but to all allow us to record this unseen world of us these images are viewed as acceptwhere action can be stopped at thouable illustrations of motion. sandths of a second or slowed down to The three main factors to be considlight tracks (blurs ) that trace the move- ered when attempting to freeze the acment of luminous objects in their tration in the photograph are the speed of jectory. This is the external universe of the moving object, its angle of direction speed and motion; images on the film to the camera, and its distance from the take on a new psychological emphasis camera position. These factors will inin the transposition of the living scene fluence the choice of shutter speeds. into time-structured photography. Since the shutter speed controls the It is the creative choice of the pho- amount of light that reaches the film in time values of l/2000th for a second or tographer to record the speeding race car as a gleaming chrome blur, a dia- one full second, the variations of these gram of motion in color. This color pho- speeds mechanically (or electronically) tograph jolts the pre-ordained view of will provide the photographer a framewhat the car should look like while still work within which to create his desired results. The higher the speed of the movconveying the feeling of something that is plausible and acceptable as a solid ing object, the higher the shutter speed scientific statement- a moving car. This needed to stop the action. Observation of the subject being photographed and the type of movement and expected behavior will alert you in advance to those Joseph Marvullo is an international times when the action of the subject travel photographer and writer whose work has appeared in many magazines best defines the essence of the activity and books. taking place. These can be dancers in 70 Archaeology