There are various ways of expressing movement which go beyond the photographically correct depiction of a scene.Paintings and drawings are by nature still objects, so, if action is depicted, the artist has to convince the viewer that movement is actually happening.
The great master Auguste Rodin once defined movement as the "transition from one attitude to another". He advocated what he called "progressive development of movement" , meaning that he liked to depict successive phases of an action in the same sculpture, condensing the action of several moments into a single figure.
For me, distortion is a good way of expressing movement.
In my example of the horse jumping over the hurdle, the head of the horse has already cleared the obstacle, moving away from us, the hind legs, however, are just about to move into our field of vision and their muscles are in the moment of greatest activity. I made the exaggeration in size intuitively but I like the result, as it helps to create the illusion of movement.
4 comments:
Noted sports photographer Neil Leifer once pointed out that he had access to the fastest camera motor drives that shot 16 frames per second. Yet he admited that the best shot (of a galloping race horse, for example) was always in between frames. Sports phtographers learn to determine when peak moment happens (movement is zero) and then with intimate knowledge of the lapse that happens when they press the shutter the know when to do it. The best dance photographs always capture movement at its peak which is usually also at it most graceful.
Alex Waterhouse-Hayward
Alex, thank you for you comment, I always appreciate your input.
Did you take this shot yourself? Or did you get it from a magazine? I find the shot itself (and of course the painting) very interesting.
Thanks!
Hi Leo, I photographed a lot in a friends riding school, during training and competitions, but no, this shot I did not take myself, only hired, professional photographers are allowed near the obstacles.
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