General Writings:

Faster


'Light is good. Yet in the dark the stars come out. You have to wait long enough for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. The human eye is an instrument capable of resolving a very large range of intensities, but not all at once. The very bright and the very faint cannot be seen together. Finally, accustomed to the dark, you see what was invisible in the light.

Speed is like light: something we crave, and something that can obscure as well as illuminate.'#

James Gleick







I often work in low light conditions with small apertures and slow film. This leads to long exposures, often of more than ten minutes. So, I may be standing in a dark field away from anywhere, waiting for the exposure to be complete.

There is no point in doing something during this time, there is too much risk of ruining the exposure. Enlargement factors of up to twelve show any camera shake.

These are moments I treasure. By slowing down, more becomes visible, a certain calmness is allowed, rushing is banned.

There is an exhilaration to be found in rushing, in frenetic activity, in cramming activity into every second, but it needs to be tempered with slow time, time to reflect, time to think in an unstructured manner.





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This page last updated in August 2001