Playing with Time

I love playing with time in my photography, long exposures being a form of silencing noise, removing clutter, letting the passage of time settle the madness to find peace, quiet, solitude. It works remarkably like meditation for me, being in a beautiful place at the break of dawn, setting up the camera to tick away for several minutes, and then reflecting on my own thoughts, in my own quiet solitude as the minutes whittle away.

I've always aimed for very long exposures at the sea, to nullify the waves and create milky-smooth water that works particularly well with minimalist seascape photography. This has gifted me some beautiful photographs I truly treasure.

And yet, over the last year I've wanted to explore time in a different way, layering the effect of time in shorter spurts, showing movement while retaining that sense of calm, of quiet and peace I search for in my work. The play of waves with the shore, wisps of sand streaking across a windy beach, the shape of water as it swirls over rocks.

Meditation of a different form, finding beauty and patterns in the small, the detail. Its a phase of experimentation in my photography, a phase which results in smaller, more abstract, less grandiose work; yet work that remains compelling and meditative for me.

All of these photos were taken with shutter speeds ranging from 5 to 30 seconds. Note to self - slow down, play more, enjoy the process.