I love the rain and taking photographs in the rain just seems to feel good. This “rainy blur” was the result of taxi and bus passing behind and in front of two pedestrians waiting to cross a major street during a downfall. Both vehicles passed completely across the image frame during the 1 second exposure streaking their colours across the image. The slight blur of the people is because they too moved slightly during the photograph while the cross walk lines on the road are sharp because the camera was on a tripod.
Just as the camera can capture and preserve events that happen too quickly for us to see, it can also capture images of events too long for us to see. Using a long exposure allows the camera to see the world a little differently which is something I enjoy. I use long exposures a lot but not very often when photographing people. This is one of those cases where I really enjoy the effect of blurred movement giving the image a sense of time. As I enjoy this image I can’t help but wonder what everyone is doing and yet the blurring of their images somehow at the same time dehumanizes them. For the most part, only their feet stay still long enough in the image to make sure we know they are people. The couple in the middle left of the image have stopped walking allowing the camera to see that they are engaged in conversation.
Images like this one leave me wondering how else the camera can help us to see the world in different ways. Or, what else the camera can see that we can not.
This image was taken from a walkway above a popular shopping area, called “The Village” in Beijing.
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