Project Description
When we go out for drive on a country road outside Sacramento and look off to our right or left, the fields pass by, moving in the opposite direction we are traveling. Trees, bushes and mailboxes all fly by. We believe that what we see is reality. It is, but only partially. What we see is a subset, a slice, of reality.
This project began when I asked myself what would happen if I panned the camera on objects (mailboxes, trees, etc.) as I drove by them. I expected the photographs would look very similar to images produced when standing still and panning the camera on an automobile as it races by. I was right but there was much more to it. There appeared in some images inexplicable movement or movements that I could not see and could not explain. I spent nearly a year photographing weekly, trying to understand what it was that I was capturing in my photographs.
Then one day as I was driving, I looked out to my right at a recently plowed field and things changed right before my eyes. Suddenly, the clods of dirt in the field that were passing by me in the opposite direction changed to clods of dirt circulating, counterclockwise, around a vortex about 40 feet out in the field. The circular motion was obvious and unavoidable. I looked to my left and there was the same motion, but it was rotating clockwise. I was amazed. How could I have not seen this before? Over the next few days I took my wife and a few friends out in the country, and as we drove along I pointed out the movement in a nicely textured field. With simple instructions, they were all able to see it.
This phenomenon is based on the principle of motion parallax. When we go for a drive and look out at roughly 90 degrees to the direction we are traveling and see the fields and trees passing by us in the opposite direction, it is because we are focused on the horizon. If the focal point is moved towards us, to a point say 40 feet away, a completely different world emerges. Objects between us and the focal point continue to pass by in the opposite direction. But objects beyond the focal point move in the same direction we are traveling. I found this counter-intuitive, but visible and photographable once I moved my focus to the middle of that field.
There is no image manipulation in these photographs. They are optically accurate and reflect what was recorded in camera raw.
I've only met one person so far that has seen this motion in the landscape. He is a physics professor at the University of California at Davis. As a kid, he use to look at the motion in the fields while out for drives with his folks. My success rate at taking someone for a ride and pointing out the motion and them seeing it, is near 100%. But there is only one person who, after reading my description on how to see this motion, was actually able to see it. And he was on his bicycle.
This body of work is being published by Lenswork Magazine in the May/June 2012 Extended DVD edition.
Seeing Motion Parallax
I first saw this motion from a car traveling about 50 mph and this description is based upon my experience.
Go for a ride with some else driving the car. Sit in the front right seat. Find a open field that has some kind of texture. A recently ploughed field works well. No objects in the field. No tress, no rows, no fences. These things can become obstacles to seeing. Look out to your right at about 90 degrees to the direction you are traveling. Focus on a point about 40 feet out in the field and become aware of what is going on around that point. As you move along keep focusing on a point 40 feet out so that it does not move. Good luck.
When we go out for drive on a country road outside Sacramento and look off to our right or left, the fields pass by, moving in the opposite direction we are traveling. Trees, bushes and mailboxes all fly by. We believe that what we see is reality. It is, but only partially. What we see is a subset, a slice, of reality.
This project began when I asked myself what would happen if I panned the camera on objects (mailboxes, trees, etc.) as I drove by them. I expected the photographs would look very similar to images produced when standing still and panning the camera on an automobile as it races by. I was right but there was much more to it. There appeared in some images inexplicable movement or movements that I could not see and could not explain. I spent nearly a year photographing weekly, trying to understand what it was that I was capturing in my photographs.
Then one day as I was driving, I looked out to my right at a recently plowed field and things changed right before my eyes. Suddenly, the clods of dirt in the field that were passing by me in the opposite direction changed to clods of dirt circulating, counterclockwise, around a vortex about 40 feet out in the field. The circular motion was obvious and unavoidable. I looked to my left and there was the same motion, but it was rotating clockwise. I was amazed. How could I have not seen this before? Over the next few days I took my wife and a few friends out in the country, and as we drove along I pointed out the movement in a nicely textured field. With simple instructions, they were all able to see it.
This phenomenon is based on the principle of motion parallax. When we go for a drive and look out at roughly 90 degrees to the direction we are traveling and see the fields and trees passing by us in the opposite direction, it is because we are focused on the horizon. If the focal point is moved towards us, to a point say 40 feet away, a completely different world emerges. Objects between us and the focal point continue to pass by in the opposite direction. But objects beyond the focal point move in the same direction we are traveling. I found this counter-intuitive, but visible and photographable once I moved my focus to the middle of that field.
There is no image manipulation in these photographs. They are optically accurate and reflect what was recorded in camera raw.
I've only met one person so far that has seen this motion in the landscape. He is a physics professor at the University of California at Davis. As a kid, he use to look at the motion in the fields while out for drives with his folks. My success rate at taking someone for a ride and pointing out the motion and them seeing it, is near 100%. But there is only one person who, after reading my description on how to see this motion, was actually able to see it. And he was on his bicycle.
This body of work is being published by Lenswork Magazine in the May/June 2012 Extended DVD edition.
Seeing Motion Parallax
I first saw this motion from a car traveling about 50 mph and this description is based upon my experience.
Go for a ride with some else driving the car. Sit in the front right seat. Find a open field that has some kind of texture. A recently ploughed field works well. No objects in the field. No tress, no rows, no fences. These things can become obstacles to seeing. Look out to your right at about 90 degrees to the direction you are traveling. Focus on a point about 40 feet out in the field and become aware of what is going on around that point. As you move along keep focusing on a point 40 feet out so that it does not move. Good luck.