Figure in Motion

 

FIGURE in MOTIONThese images were made with a camera modified with an old clock motor, so that the film was mechanically transported forward at 1 rpm. It was clear to me that altering the traditional relationship of exposure time to film movement would net an unpredictable if not a unique image. The key was to mask the focal plane shutter down to a narrow vertical slit, a sliver of a window through which the exposure is made as the film advances for a nine-minute exposure, running the length of the roll of film. The picture is recorded line by line and resembles 18th century edge paintings on illustrated books. Rendering the figure in this way results in a distinct cubist view, where each rotation of the model yields a 360-degree view of the uninterrupted surface of the body, or the simultaneous viewing of all sides of the subject.