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Complete Guide to Intentional camera movement

Home » Blog » Tutorials Fine Art Black and White Photography » COMPLETE GUIDE TO ICM INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT: TECHNIQUE AND ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION

May 5, 2017 by Julia Anna Gospodarou

COMPLETE GUIDE TO ICM INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT: TECHNIQUE AND ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION

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Complete Guide to Intentional camera movement

Intentional Camera Movement or ICM is a creative way of working with long exposure photography and it implies deliberately moving the camera during an exposure. ICM is both a technique and an artistic way of expression. It can be used as a tool to modify reality, with the intent of creating an emotional response in the viewer.

There is not much free information you can find about intentional camera movement online, this is why I felt the need to fill in the gaps and create this complete ICM guide. I intend this guide as an overall tool for studying this technique, both for those wanting to learn ICM from scratch, as well as for advanced photographers working already with this style but wanting to perfect it or to find some inspiration.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO ICM

PART 1 – INTRODUCTION: ARTISTIC BACKGROUND AND TECHNIQUE

This is the first part of this guide where I will present some more general principles and interpretations of this style in photography, plus talk about the technique itself and how one can create an ICM image, from the point of view of choosing the subject, the exposure time, the equipment etc., so the result is a fine art photograph. In Part 2 I will elaborate on the more advanced technique of creating panoramic ICM images and on the artistic background and interpretation of this technique.

UPDATE – PART 2:

Part 2 of the guide is out, under the name From  Art to Photography and Why,  and it elaborates on the artistic background of ICM and what made me use this technique in my ICM panorama The substance of Memories. Most probably Part 3 will follow soon with more technical details about the creation of a panoramic ICM image.

Flowing Dance III © Julia Anna Gospodarou

Flowing Dance III © Julia Anna Gospodarou

I am starting this guide with a new ICM image I made in the series Flowing Dance, a series of intentional camera movement images I started a few years ago. This image is called Flowing Dance III and it was shot in the Pindus Mountains in Greece. I am working on some more ICM images at the moment, taken in different places around the world, like New York, Paris, London, and some of them are panoramic ICM images, something I’m going to talk about more extensively later here and especially in Part 2 of this guide to intentional camera movement.

INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT VS LONG EXPOSURE, AND THE FREEDOM OF ART

Intentional camera movement is a very effective technique that changes the way reality looks and it can create powerful images if used right. Even if it is similar as a concept with traditional long exposure photography, intentional camera movement is a more free approach to photography that can provide more artistic surprises compared to traditional long exposure.

For an extensive guide on working with long exposure photography, from a technical and artistic point of view, you can watch my recently released fine art long exposure video tutorial. Also, you can read my long exposure photography extensive tutorial. These two resources will give you everything you need to know to work with long exposure.

Also, we study long exposure extensively in my workshop so if you want to become a long exposure expert, you are welcome to join.


“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept.”

– Henri Cartier-Bresson

In a world of photography sometimes obsessed by sharpness and detail, intentional camera movement can seem counter-intuitive and is not always easily understood and accepted, even by some of those with an eye trained in art. In my opinion, however, it is one of the most powerful artistic techniques in photography, a technique that brings the freedom of art to this rather technical mean of expression.
Some of the most interesting photographers working with intentional camera movement are/were Ernst Hass (1921–1986), Chris Friel, Douglas Barkey, Erik Malm and I encourage you to go see the work of those photographers to understand how much this technique can bring photography close to art.

ONE STEP FURTHER – A DIFFERENT WAY OF CREATING ICM – PANORAMIC INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT IMAGES

The Substance of Memories I - Manhattan New York - © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2016

The Substance of Memories I – Manhattan New York – © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2016

I have used intentional camera movement several times in the past and lately I am working on a series of panoramic intentional camera movement images, called The Substance of Memories.

To my knowledge, combining intentional camera movement with the panoramic technique hasn’t been done before, so in this respect, I hope to be bringing something interesting and original to your attention, in case you are in search of new ways of expression.

One of my favorite occupations, from the time I was a kid, was to try to do the things others did, in a different way.  I’m not sure if it was just me setting a creativity challenge to myself or if it was my personal way of expression, but I know I’mstilll doing it, even with the risk sometimes for my artistic intentions to not be understood immediately.  Using ICM combined with panoramic photography can easily be considered one of those  “eureka artistic moments”  when I discovered a new world of expression.

You can see above the first image in my new series, The Substance of Memories I, shot in Manhattan New York I created by stitching 18 independent photographs.

I will explain in more detail how I created this image in the second part of this tutorial that I will publish soon, but as a principle idea, what I do in this series is to combine multiple intentional camera movement images taken in a panoramic array, and then stitch them together to create a multiple motion effect.

In a way, this means taking the ICM technique one step further on the path of abstraction, since now the result is not only an image with motion in one direction, but an image with different directions of motion flowing into each other.

INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT – AN IMPRESSIONISTIC VIEW OVER THE WORLD

This interlacing of multiple directions of motion in one image, as the ones one can create in a panoramic ICM image, triggers for me the association with the Impressionist painters, who were interested in removing the detail and the elements of concrete reality from their paintings, in order to facilitate the transmission of the impression of emotion to the viewers.

This is what I see myself in intentional camera movement and especially in combining different images in a panorama, to create this flow of motion that removes the details in order to reach deeper into the essence of the scene I am photographing.
You can see below, by putting side by side this famous impressionist painting from 1884 by George Seurat (1859-1891), A Sunday on La Grande Jatte,  with a photograph taken from the same angle with the intention to recreate the original scene,  what means to remove the detail from the painted objects and reduce the scene to the level of “impression”.

Georges Seurat – A Sunday on La Grande Jatte 1884

Julia Anna Gospodarou

George Seurat scene recreated by OldOnliner

Julia Anna Gospodarou

Similarly, in the case of  Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) and his painting Café Terrace at Night from 1888, compared with the recording of the location in a photograph, you can see that the result of removing detail in Impressionism is triggering an intense emotion by bringing the viewer closer to the essence of the scene. One can understand much easier the idea and the intention behind the painting without unnecessary details cluttering the scene.

Van Gogh – Café Terrace at Night – Place du forum Arles 1888

Julia Anna Gospodarou

Van Gogh Café Terrace at Night recreated by Greg Emel

Julia Anna Gospodarou

Another artist whose work gives you the same feeling as intentional camera movement images, and one of my favorites artists, is the painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992). I’ve written about Bacon also in the book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography when I was talking about motion blur photography. You can find in the book a comprehensive guide for creating motion blur images. And again Bacon is coming to my mind when I think about the ICM technique, another technique in photography that creates an artistic effect, especially when I think about his portraits.  Not a coincidence, I would say.

You can read here a very interesting (and thought-provoking) interview with Francis Bacon on an interesting (and thought-provoking) photography/art oriented website, American Suburb X ASX

Francis Bacon - Three Studies for Self-Portrait III

Francis Bacon – Three Studies for Self-Portrait III

The principles all these aforementioned painters use is the same as the artistic intention of intentional camera movement. We can reduce or remove the detail as much as we need, so the remaining object is not necessarily what we see, but what we imagine related to the scene. In this respect, we are moving from the place of recording reality to the place of recreating reality. We rely on different rules when we do this, so to avoid the connotations one would normally make with known shapes or objects. This creates an open space for imagination to fill in the gaps with each viewer’s version of the story.

HOW TO CREATE AN INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT IMAGE

Flowing Dance I © Julia Anna Gospodarou

Flowing Dance III © Julia Anna Gospodarou – ICM Vertical Movement – Image Details: 49mm, f/29, 0,8 sec, ISO 100

In intentional camera movement image is, in essence, a long exposure image that uses a “short” long exposure time.


The main principle to keep in mind in intentional camera movement is that the longer the exposure the more abstract the image and the less clear the subject.


EXPOSURE TIMES IN INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT

The indicated exposure times to use can start from less than a second (1/30 – 1/20) and go up to a few seconds (2-3 maybe slightly more), in some cases being possible to extend the exposure to many seconds for a more special result.

I would consider the fastest shutter speed where you can get enough blur for an intentional camera movement image 1/30, or even better 1/10.

In my image The Substance of Memories I used a shutter speed of 1/20 which can be considered too fast for this kind of technique. If needed I can make a perfectly sharp image while handholding the camera at this shutter speed, but at the same time I can make an image containing motion too if I use a different technique. By using the tripod here I was able to introduce even more motion than I would have been able to create handholding the camera, while at the same time, by using a faster shutter speed than the regular speed for an ICM image, I avoided reducing too much the detail so I can create the effect I had in mind.
However, normally you would want to use longer exposure times to create a strong enough effect.

WHEN TO SHOOT INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT IMAGES

The best time to shoot intentional camera movement is when the light is dimmer, around dusk or down, but you can practically shoot ICM to any time if you use the right tools to create the right exposure (see how in the Tips & Tricks section below).

ICM TIPS AND TRICKS

Tips & Tricks: No. 1 – Amount and Direction of Motion

London Eye – Intentional Camera Movement – Vertical Movement – Slow © Julia Anna Gospodarou

London Eye – Intentional Camera Movement – Horizontal Movement – Fast © Julia Anna Gospodarou

In order for the technique to be successful, one needs to be careful and create enough motion, so the resulted image shows clearly the intention and doesn’t look like an image blurred by mistake.

Also, the direction of movement can totally change the end result and its expressiveness, so choosing the most fit direction of movement is another important aspect to have in mind and experiment with.

Tips & Tricks: No. 2 – Panning Control

Another good trick for when you are panning the camera to create intentional motion, just like in the case of any image you take with panning (see sports and car photography – shooting cars in motion etc.) you will get better results if you start panning before pressing the shutter and keep panning for a little while after the exposure s over. This will give you smoother motion and create more fluency and more uniform blur in the image.

Tips & Tricks: No. 3 – ISO and ND Filters

3-stop Firecrest ND Neutral Density Filter 0.9 – Formatt Hitech

6-stop Firecrest ND Neutral Density Filter 1.8 – Formatt Hitech

Choose the lowest ISO of your camera to have more freedom with the length of the exposure. In case the exposure you want to use is not possible at the lowest ISO of your camera you can use a low-intensity neutral density filter to lengthen the exposure. Most of the times a 3-stop or 6-stop ND filter will be enough and you do not need to use your strong ND filters like the 10-stop or the 16-stop. Keep those for truly long exposures.

Keep in mind that if you want to purchase any Formatt-Hitech filter or accessory, you can use my discount code JULIA10 to receive 10% discount off any purchase you make from Formatt-Hitech UK website or from Formatt-Hitech USA website.

Tips & Tricks: No. 4 – Polarizing Filter

Firecrest Polarizing Filter - Formatt Hitech

Firecrest Polarizing Filter – Formatt Hitech

Using a polarizing filter can not only reduce up to 2 stops the light that reaches your sensor, thus give you the freedom to use longer shutter speeds, like in the case of using an ND filter, but it also enhances the colors and contrast in the image, so I am recommending it as a good addition when shooting ICM. My students an whoever knows me, knows I am a fervent advocate of the polarizing filter especially for shooting handheld and I am using it 90% of the time when I shoot short exposures and sometimes even when I shoot long exposures.

Tips & Tricks: No. 5 – Experimentation and Happenstance

Even more than in other kinds of photography, in intentional camera movement, experimentation is not only a way of learning the technique and exploring ideas, but it is actually one of the ways you can create great images. The randomness of this technique is something to be used to control the result. In a strange way, you can control the result and create better images if you aim to control less the motion of the camera. This style of photography being mostly abstract, it relies on randomness and on happenstance, so the more you experiment and the more you play with the camera movement and the settings, the more chances you have to create original striking images.

HOW TO CREATE A PANORAMIC INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT IMAGE

This is something I’m going to show more in detail in the second part of this tutorial, so feel free to come visit this website again in a couple of weeks to read the continuation or subscribe to receive it via email in your inbox.

MOTION DIRECTIONS IN INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT

Flowing Dance II © Julia Anna Gospodarou - ICM Circular Movement - Image Details: 60mm, f/32, 0,8 sec, ISO 100

Flowing Dance II © Julia Anna Gospodarou – ICM Circular Movement – Image Details: 60mm, f/32, 0,8 sec, ISO 100

The direction of movement of the camera, the panning direction, is an important aspect of ICM and it helps the artistic intention to be clearly manifested. Different panning directions can give different results and create different reactions.
The direction of movement can be:

  • Vertical (panning the camera)
  • Horizontal (panning the camera)
  •  Diagonal (panning the camera)
  • Circular (rotating the camera)
  • Zoomed (zooming the camera during the exposure)
  • Random (moving the camera in an irregular way)

I would recommend you to experiment with all these movements to understand what works best for your image, and even combine these movements in longer intentional camera movement exposures.

COLOR OR BLACK AND WHITE INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT – DEGREES OF ABSTRACTION

Flowing Dance III © Julia Anna Gospodarou

Flowing Dance III © Julia Anna Gospodarou – ICM Horizontal Movement – Image Details: 170mm, f/40, 1 sec, ISO 100

In my opinion both color and black and white work well when using intentional camera movement. They do not create the same effect but they can both create intense results. This is because the technique itself introduces an important level of abstraction in the image, which makes both the use of black and white or color have more symbolic meaning, since they are not used to represent the objects as they are, but to create an impression and trigger a reaction in the viewer.

One of the intentions of fine art photography is to create an image of the world that is different than the one we perceive when looking at the world in an objective way. Abstracting the elements we present in a photograph, either in a classical way, by making an abstract image from a shape/color standpoint, or by abstracting in a more subtle way, by introducing symbols, is one of the most effective way of making a fine art photograph and to create more than photography, to create (en)Visionography. You can read more here about what (en)Visionography means.

In ICM we can do both, abstracting from a shape/color standpoint, and introduce symbols as elements of the image.
The reaction of the viewer to an ICM image is different than his reaction to a regular sharp image. The viewer will be looking for different things in each image. While in a regular image we may look for sharpness and detail and try to obtain information about the image and the intention of the artist from studying these aspects, in ICM what we look for is the sensation, the mysterious effect of combining shapes and colors which opens the gates of imagination.

This is how an intentional camera movement image should be experienced, by resorting to our own imagination and not by trying to identify or label the objects we see in the image.
By using intentional camera movement we remove information, so that we can add our own information as a reaction to the photograph.
In this respect, both color and black and white can create very powerful images.
Below you can see Flowing Dance IV, the black and white version of the image we started with.

Julia Anna Gospodarou - Flowing Dance IV

Julia Anna Gospodarou – Flowing Dance IV – ICM Horizontal Movement – Image Details: 170mm, f/40, 1 sec, ISO 100

Black and white is already a way of abstracting reality, and by applying movement to a color scene, the color becomes abstract too, so the way we experience movement in color is similar to the way we experience movement in black and white. Color is one of the elements that anchors us in reality by associating it with shapes, so if we remove the shapes by using movement, and keep only the color, the image becomes more abstract, reality becomes more faded, and imagination can take its place.

Another reason why black and white and color can both work well with ICM is that the movement is in the ICM images the most important aspect of the image and the element we notice and experience first.

INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT EQUIPMENT

The good news is that to work with ICM you do not need very advanced or sophisticated gear and you can even create ICM with a phone. Of course, the better the camera, the more quality your RAW image will have, but from an artistic point of view, there are no differences.
The only thing you need is a camera where you can set the shutter speed manually and work either in Shutter Priority or in Manual mode to be able to control the exposure time. I like to work in Manual because I’m generally working in Manual to have the most amount of control over my capture, but Shutter Priority is just fine if you prefer it.


The main recommended shooting modes to use in intentional camera movement are: Manual and Shutter Priority.


If you want to practice intentional camera movement with your phone, there is an interesting application for iPhone called Slow Shutter Camera that will help you do this and that is available even when you don’t have your “serious” camera equipment with you. I am not sure if there is an equivalent for Android. If you know of one let me know in the comments and I will add it here.

USING A TRIPOD IN INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT – AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE TRADITIONAL HANDHELD TECHNIQUE

Intentional camera movement images are traditionally made by using a handheld camera. This gives a high degree of freedom to the movement and can create unexpected results. However, in my ICM series, I like to use a tripod and I think this can be an interesting way of working with intentional camera movement.
Using a tripod when working with intentional camera movement may reduce the freedom of the movement, but it can create more accurate results because we can keep the camera level in one direction and can control better how the scene in front of us is recorded on the sensor.
Using a tripod is best for shooting vertical, horizontal or diagonal movement and it can introduce a higher degree of control when using these directions of motion.


Use a tripod for more accuracy when creating motion.


SUBJECTS SUITED FOR INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT

The typical subject for ICM and what you will see mostly as a subject for this style of photography is landscape, but any subject can make a good subject for this technique as long as it can tell a story when it becomes an abstraction.
Below are a few ideas of subjects to experiment with an how you can use them.

1. Landscape

  1. Individual trees
  2. Forests
  3. Autumn colors
  4. Grass
  5. Rivers
  6. Waterfalls
  7. Birds flying
  8. Horses
  9. Clouds

2. Seascapes

  1. Individual waves
  2. Sea as a whole
  3. Rocks in the sea
  4. Ships or boats floating on water
  5. Sunrise or sunset on the sea

3. Architecture

  1. Cityscapes
  2. Architectural details
  3. Abstract architecture
  4. Patterns

4. People

  1. Individual persons against a uniform background
  2. Groups of people or crowds
  3. Portraits

5. Cars, trains or other vehicles

6. Fireworks

7. Lights in the dark

8. Anything

Any subject can be a good subject for ICM since the resulted image will be an abstract one, so it will not look like the subject in its natural state but it can be transformed into something totally different.

CONCLUSION TO PART 1 OF THE GUIDE

I hope you got some useful pieces of information and ideas about intentional camera movement from this article and, as I was mentioning earlier, I will be back with the second part of this tutorial, talking even more about the practical and also the artistic side of this style of photography and how it can be used to create a fine art photograph, plus more on how to create a panoramic intentional camera movement image.

 

FURTHER STUDY RESOURCES – FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE, LONG EXPOSURE

You can find more resources about fine art black and white photography, (en)Visionography, long exposure photography and architectural photography in my extensive collection of photography tutorials. To receive my future tutorials directly via email you can subscribe to my website.

More about how to create fine art photography, from vision to processing and the final image you can read in my book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, with co-author Joel Tjintjelaar and in my video tutorial Long Exposure, Architecture, Fine Art Photography - Creating (en)Visionography a hands-on tutorial accompanied by an eBook presenting my processing workflow, or attend one of my workshops.

Julia Anna Gospodarou - (en)Visionographer

Julia Anna Gospodarou Fine Art black and white photographer Julia Anna Gospodarou is an internationally acclaimed photographer, architect with a Master degree, author and highly sought-after educator, teaching workshops and lecturing around the world. Founder of (en)Visionography™ and creator of Photography Drawing™, author of the best-selling book From Basics to Fine Art - Black and White Photography , with high distinctions in the most important photography competitions worldwide (International Photography Awards IPA Photographer of the Year, World Photography Awards SWPA and Hasselblad Masters finalist, as well as 80+ more awards), widely published internationally in books and magazines, Julia is passionate about the art in photography and striving to spread it into the world.
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Internationally acclaimed Photographer|Architect|Author|Educator|Founder of (en)Visionography™|FormattHitech GlobalAmbassador|Fineart Prints|Workshops

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_VIPA 2021 Jury_ I have the honor to be part of th _VIPA 2021 Jury_
I have the honor to be part of the jury in the VIPA 2021 Visions International Photo Awards that has just been launched.

I am warmly inviting you all to submit your images to the contest and I wish you good luck to win one or more of the awards. 

Exceptionally, this year the competition will be free as a gesture to help the photography community that was so hard hit by the pandemic. The jury is volunteering and we are all happy to provide our work pro bono to keep the photography community alive and give the chance for exposure to more photographers.

Looking forward to seeing your images. Good luck! 

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#vipa2021 #photographyawards #photographycontest #photography #fineartphotography #photographyjury
Delighted to have won the Best of Nation Award for Delighted to have won the Best of Nation Award for Greece and be a Top 10 finalist in Commercial Category at WPC World Photographic Cup 2021.

I haven’t entered in photography contests for the past years after I had the honor to win the Photographer of the Year award at IPA International Photography Awards in 2016, but this was different. It was teamwork, and we represented Greece with my fellow photographers at one of the most distinguished international competitions, which makes me even happier to have been awarded. 
We are still waiting for the team awards. Wish us luck so Greece wins. And keep an eye on this space to find out the final results. 

For now, you can enjoy the finalist images at this link https://www.worldphotographiccup.org/wpc_gallery/finalists-2021/

Go Greece! 

Nikos Siamos Akis Douzlatzis Anna Pantelia Prokopis Manousopoulos Babis Tsoukias John Makris Nik Pekridis 

#worldphotographiccup #photographyawards #commercial #fineartphotography #blackandwhitephotography #architecturephotography #oculusnewyork #juliaannagospodarou
Fluid Time V – Aligning Paths The 5th image in m Fluid Time V – Aligning Paths
The 5th image in my Fluid Time series, shot in Chicago in 2013. 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com 
I’m quite fond of this image, and I remember how much fun I had playing with the camera and the geometry to get a dynamic shot of the convergence of these 2 buildings. The image was shot with the 24 m TS lens of a Canon full frame. 
The particularity of this image is that I wanted to emphasize the composition's dynamism even more by using selective focus with the tilt function of the TS lens. One of the challenges was to place the area of focus in the right spot, given that focusing with the tilt function of TS lens is entirely different than the way we regularly focus. It took quite a bit of work and patience to get it right but it was worth it. 
This is one thing you need to have when working with the TS lens, patience. And the second is the desire to think out of the box and play with your gear. I just love doing that. 

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Fluid Time IV – Stopping Time This is the 4th im Fluid Time IV – Stopping Time
This is the 4th image in my 2013 Fluid Time series and it shows one of the iconic historical buildings in Chicago, the Wrigley Building. Finished in 1924 and built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, it was one of the first highrises built in the area. 
Here too, I used the tilt function of the tilt-shift lens, as in all the images in the series, and it was actually a quite challenging image to shoot because of the intensity of the effect I needed, which wasn’t easy to create. But the more challenging, the more I love it. Easy images are boring, isn’t it? As everything that is too easy. :) 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com 

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Fluid Time III – Two Worlds The third image in m Fluid Time III – Two Worlds
The third image in my 2013 Fluid Time series. This is one of the most interesting buildings in Chicago, the Hancock Center. One of the things I love about this building, in terms of architectural design is that the structural frame of the building is placed exteriorly and not at the interior as usually, and it is visible on the façade. For those who are wondering, this x-braced reinforcement system allows for larger open spaces in the interior of the building which is why it is ideal for an office building like this, and it also allows for rising taller structures. When it was built, in 1965, the Hancock Center was meant to be the second taller building in the world. 
Like all the images in the series, here too, I used the tilt function of the tilt-shift lens, to focus on the relation between the 2 buildings – hence the title: Two Worlds. 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com 

#architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #cityview #chicago #chicagophotography #hancockcenter #skyscraper #longexposure #longexposurephotography #formatthitech #ndfilters #tiltshift #tiltshiftlens #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #fineartphotography #mono #monochromatic #monochrome #limitededitionprints #Insta_bw #instadaily #architecturelovers #archdaily #photoshop #juliaannagospodarou #envisionography #photographydrawing
Fluid Time II – Utopian Connections Second in my Fluid Time II – Utopian Connections
Second in my 2013 Fluid Time series, this image shows the Prudential Plaza Tower in Chicago, flanked by the Prudential Plaza One building and the Aon Center.
Here I used again the tilt function of the tilt-shift lens, as I did in all the images in this series, to isolate different planes of focus in order to create depth. 
There are three things that you can use to create depth: composition, selective depth of field, and selective work with light. All 3 of them are just as powerful if used right. 
I’m working right now on finalizing a video course about creating B&W photography where I will get into a lot of details about these aspects and many more. If you are interested, keep an eye on this space and I’ll be back with more about it very soon. 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com 

#architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #cityview #chicago #chicagophotography #prudentialplaza #aoncenter #longexposure #longexposurephotography #formatthitech #ndfilters #tiltshift #tiltshiftlens #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #fineartphotography #mono #monochromatic #monochrome #limitededitionprints #Insta_bw #instadaily #architecturelovers #archdaily #photoshop #juliaannagospodarou #envisionography #photographydrawing
Fluid Time I – Parallel Realities One of my favo Fluid Time I – Parallel Realities
One of my favorite series, shot in 2013 in Chicago – one of my favorite cities. In this series, I worked with the tilt function of the tilt-shift lens to create selective focus, a technique that gained traction among fine art photographers after that. Which is one of the reasons why I consider this one of my most important series. I believe what we do becomes even more valuable if we can not only express ourselves through photography, but we can also inspire others. 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com
Have a great weekend, everyone! 

#architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #cityview #chicago #chicagophotography #millenniumpark #pritzkerpavilion #longexposure #longexposurephotography #formatthitech #ndfilters #tiltshift #tiltshiftlens #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #fineartphotography #mono #monochromatic #monochrome #limitededitionprints #Insta_bw #instadaily #architecturelovers #archdaily #photoshop #juliaannagospodarou #envisionography #photographydrawing
Happy New Year 2021! Wishing a wonderful new year Happy New Year 2021! 
Wishing a wonderful new year to everyone, filled with much love, peace, and inspiration. 
Yours truly.
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