Shooting Long Exposures on a Loupe
· 3 min read
Overcast days are underrated; the light wraps around all of it. This is less a guide and more a record of what worked for me. I like composition that shows the marks of how it was made. The trick, if there is one, is to leave enough room for slip-ups.
What changed
Good street corners is mostly a series of modest, unglamorous decisions. I shot most of this series on a single roll, half of it in fading light. The small things matter less than the routine of paying attention. Film forces a pause between seeing and pressing the shutter.
I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. Looking back, the high-contrast approach was the right call. I print modest first, then decide what deserves to be larger.
Odds and ends
The best advice I got was just to slow down. Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years. A friend once described contact sheets as quiet work, and the phrase stuck. You can get unexpectedly far with a light meter and some a steady hand.
It is not glamorous, but it holds up. A light meter is a good teacher if you let it disagree with you. Scanning is tedious, but it is where the series takes shape.
A friend once described long exposures as quiet work, and the phrase stuck.
What I would do differently
The result is not perfect, but it is candid. There is no single right way to approach walking with a camera, but some ways are kinder than others. You can get unexpectedly far with a 50mm lens and some a steady hand. It took me four attempts to see the pattern. Most problems with coastlines turn out to be problems with time.
There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version.
Lessons
Looking back, the grainy approach was the right call. Somewhere between the hills and home, the thought finally made sense. A friend once described the darkroom as quiet work, and the phrase stuck. I would rather do one thing deliberately than five things quickly. There is no single right way to approach editing a series, but some ways are kinder than others.
Every spring I revisit the same questions about film stock. You can get unexpectedly far with a loupe and some a steady hand. The first five weeks were mostly about unlearning. Most problems with long exposures turn out to be problems with time. Most problems with street corners turn out to be problems with time.
You can get unexpectedly far with a medium format camera and some a steady hand. There is no single right way to approach scanning negatives, but some ways are kinder than others. For a long time I treated contact sheets as an afterthought. A friend once described overcast days as quiet work, and the phrase stuck. I like shadows that shows the marks of how it was made.
The first seven weeks were mostly about unlearning. The first three weeks were mostly about unlearning. Good coastlines is mostly a series of modest, unglamorous decisions.
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