The Art of photography

Photography

andTime

TheImportance

of"When"

Whenpeople

talkabouttimeinconnectionwithphotography,

theyusually

meanthetimeittakesto

make

a

picture—itsexposuretime,determinedby

theshutterspeed.Everypicture

involvestimeinthatsense,ofcourse,be-

causethephotographicimagemustberecorded

onfilmoveracertainpe-

riodof

time,howeverbrieforextended.Thischapter

willconsidertimein

anothercontext:

howaphotographcanconveyanideaoftimeto

thebe-

holder.Thedurationof

exposureneednotmatter.

Photographyexploresthedimensionoftime

fromoneextremetotheother

—

fromthebillionths ofasecondrecorded bynuclear

physicistsstudyingev-

anescentatomicparticlestothebillionsofyearsanalyzedby

astronomers

tracingthebirthoftheuniverseinstarpictures.Itcananswermanyofthe

questionsabouttime:When?

Howlong?Howfrequently?(insomecasesall

inonepicture).Intheintermediate,

morecomprehensiblerangesoftime,

whichmostpicturesrepresent,photographershavefound

variouswaysof

expressingtime,partlyforitsowninterestandpartlybecausethesenseof

timeinfluences

theresponseofthebeholder.Onlythreeofthesewayswill

betakenuphere,andallrelate

mainly

to

thequestion"When?"First,the

conceptofsuspendedtime:thepictureinwhichtheclock

seemstohave

stopped.Itsintentisnottospecifyanexacttime,anditsanswerto"when"

is

ambiguous.Mostlandscapes,stilllifesandformalportraits

—

picturesin

whichthere

is

no

indicationofmotion—areexamples.Second,peaktime:

theso-calleddecisive-momentpicture,which

preciselyspecifiesapartic-

ularinstantandisasclimacticandunrepeatableasthephotofinish

of

a

horserace.Third,randomtime:thepictureofabefore-or-aftertime,am-

biguous

again,like

a

sidelongglimpseofordinarylife—which indeed

spendsmostofitstimebetweenhighpoints.

Someother,lessconventionalwaysofthinkingabouttime

areincludedin

Chapter5,andthereareofcoursestillotherapproaches—suchasstrobo-

scopeimages andmovement-blurredimages,whichcanbemadetoanswer

thequestions"Howlong?"and

"Howfrequently?"Thepicturesthatfollow

arewidelydisparateinsubjectandtechnique,as

well

as

intheattitudes

abouttimethattheybespeak,andyettheyhaveacommondenominator.

Theyareallreportorialinthattheyconveyfactratherthanfiction.Whatthey

showisnotacreationofimaginationbutaviewoftherealworld.Yet,in

each,realityisemployedtoelicitadistinctiveresponsefromthe

viewer.

Theeffectproducedbysuspendingtimeiseloquentlydemonstratedby

PaulStrand'sclassicgroupportraitofanItalianfamily,reproducedonthe

precedingpage.Onehardlyneedstobetoldthatthegroupisgathered

aroundthedoorwaytohaveitspicturetaken,orthatitisafamilyandnotan

assortmentofpassersby.Thisisnobriefencounter;thesceneiscarefullydi-

rected,

thepeoplepainstakinglyyetnormallyposed,attheirimpassiveease;