Days of Film

“What moves?” and “What moves you?” may be very different questions. 

In a previous post, I talked about four different types of shots: 

1. Movement within the frame + Still camera

2. Movement within the frame + Moving camera

3. No movement within the frame + Moving camera

4. No movement within the frame + Still camera. 

I really like movement, and mostly I’ve gone for movement within the frame, with either a still or moving camera. But what moves? What type of movement is there to capture? 

I’ve discovered that most things in our world are stationary. There are so many things I see that are compelling or beautiful. A rustic barn door. A majestic mountain. A row of colors. They could make great photographs, but would make terrible videos. 

Things that either move (or cause movement):

• People: all the time we move around. We’re so used to seeing people that I haven’t actually used many people shots. Unless I can find something that makes us look or consider someone in a different way (like kids doing skateboarding practice), I don’t really use it. There’s also plenty of things where people infuse static objects with movement, making things like a pen and paper interesting (and useful). 
• Machines: humans are good at creating technology that can move largely on its own. From the Lumiere brothers’ 1895 film of a train and other early films, machines have been highly filmed. And when you stop to notice the countless machines all around us, whether they’re for serving ice cream or making cool patterns with light, you see a lot of cool things. 
• Animals: like people, animals (whether fish, birds, mammals, arachnids, etc.) can move with their own volition, and so they make quite interesting subjects. Who knew that being a penguin was so much fun? 
• The elements: storms, rain, and weather do so much to change nature. They take what is static and insert energy and upheaval into the landscape, like a lightning strike lighting up the sky. 
• Wind: wind is truly a subset of “the elements” but I feel it deserves its own category, as so many of my shots are of the wind. You can’t actually see wind, but you can see all the things that it changes. So far this year I have 24 shots that I’ve tagged with the word wind. 

Not everything that has movement “moves” or compels me, but many things do, if I can just find the right shot or angle for it. 

Here are the shots from August that most moved me (some repeats that I already linked above):

1. Journal writing

2. A yellow balloon

3. An excited puppy

4. A penguin party

5. Lightning

August was a good month—and now I’m 2/3 the way through my project.