Set Brief Project

We have to hand in our project proposal for out set brief project (the second semester project). I have one all written out (check a few posts back), and although it's a good plan, I don't really feel that passionate about it. I really want to continue with landscape photography, but have a different twist on it than I did this semester. I started to research different landscape images and found an artist called John Miller. The link I've added redirects to a blog post with woodland images in Surrey. I really liked his work and all the different colours, but as I scrolled down I noticed something even more interesting - his motion blur images (image above). I immediately emailed him telling him a bit about my work and asking him if it was possible to assist him to learn more about landscape photography.

I had no idea how to do anything like this, so started looking at photoshop tutorials on how to create this effect. I managed to create the image to the left. It looked really cool, but wasn't exactly what I wanted. And I'd also much prefer to take the images like that instead of manipulating them afterwards. I continued to research and found the term "motion blur" which really helped. Motion blur is also used for sports events where the subject is in focus, but the background is moved. I finally managed to find a website that explained how to do it without any manipulation. 

 The two images to the left and right and ones that I took. I used a shutter speed of about 1/20 sec and quite a high aperture so the images wouldn't be over exposed. I used a tripod to get straight lines and moved the camera as I clicked the shutter. I took a couple images at a time, but not all of them worked. The images look more like paintings than photographs, and that's what I like about it. I studied Fine Art back at school so it's nice to go back to the start.  The image to the left is my favourite. It is unrecognisable. The sun had come out and create a lined pattern on the tree, making it look twisted in the photograph. The photo to the right is also one of my favourites from the day. It consists of very different colours than the first photograph. It again looks like an abstract painting, not a photograph.

I really like this concept and will continue to experiment with this style of photography. Ideally I want to print them out massively and really confuse the viewer as to what it is. I might add in a timelapse of Horsell common to put the images in context and because I really like creating time lapse videos.