Intentionally blurred photos

Intentionally blurred photos – sounds like n oxymoron, doesn’t it? But, please, do read on.

Leslie’s prompt today had me stomped and is more than a little challenging for me. But read for yourself: The last photo you took with a cell phone, or a camera:  Write a story about the picture in 10 sentences or less. Me? Writing a story? You got to be kidding.

But guess what – then this happened. After a year of more or less absence I once again decided to join a Google Plus Mentorship. You know they come in as many different forms and for all levels of photographers. The one I am taking part in, is taking me away from traditional, in-focus photos to the wonderful world of  intentional ‘blur and unsharp’ pictures, in short ICM (in camera movement). Saturday while being out and about on assignment for this mentorship I shot this photo. I uploaded it to our private community and captioned it with a mini story – see below. My fellow students and teachers commented on it and kept spinning the yarn. Which I am now presenting to you as our collective story.

Please click any of the images to view them larger. You will like it.

panning, blur, car

CAPTION: This afternoon I was happily shooting away blurry photos while riding my bicycle. When suddenly, out of nowhere, this hover-car photobombed my picture. Thankfully, just as quickly as it appeared it was gone. And I could go about my business. But we sure should watch out for those space aliens from the future.

A: That may be one of those top secret Air Force projects. How close are you to Area 51?

C: Thankfully I am very far from Area 51. But who knows, maybe there’s another one, so secret nobody found out about it yet, right here in NJ – aarrrgh!!

A: The floating cars in the Air Force project are so fast it probably doesn’t matter how far away you are from the base.

C: There’s always that. True.

K: Good thing they didn’t see you taking the picture…

A2: New Jersey?  I’d better not mention Area 52… 😉   I guess I should have warned you all, there tend to be lots of alien occurrences in my vicinity. There’s a reason this section has Weird Science in the title…

C: Now you’re telling us, Alex… thanks, a little late! 😉

S3: Well done and what you find in NJ never surprises me!

S: OMG!  I think you actually caught a shot of the prototype MT32000…it’s the new wheel-less car that’s coming out right after those cars that don’t need drivers!

C: No drivers?! Oh no – I like driving (unless I’m stuck in NYC traffic)

R: I can see this caption in a newspaper: Google’s car of the future is still very much up in the air

S2: Actually, the MT32000 mentioned by S has been superseded before going into production! It has been replaced by the MT32500IGT. This Intergalactic Tourer boasts the Hawking Multiple Singularity Drive. The unit produces 10 billion Gigasquits of thrust and accelerates from stasis to 100 light years/sec in 0.001 nanoseconds. It runs on a pure vacuum. Optional extras include faux banther hide seats, a dark matter cloaking unit and two pink fluffy dice to hang from the rear view mirror.

R: oh I love the finishing touch of the two fluffy dice lol

C: Hmmm, ‘Hawking Multiple Singularity Drive, Gigasquits, faux banther, dark matter AND two pink fluffy dice’ – all that sounds incredible. But we all know: The unknown is out there.

A: You’re ahead of the class +Claudia Willison. We weren’t supposed to get to Hawking Singularity Blurs until week 6.

C: Oh shooot! S2 – you blew it for me with your Hawking Multiple Singularity Drive – darn!

R2: I’m glad you were able to catch them… it is very rare that someone gets such a great shot of them

C: Yes, I consider myself very lucky that I caught them and did not get caught 🙂

Not really a story, and I did not count the sentences and I did not edit it (much) for coherence or such, but fun nonetheless, don’t you think? And, this is just a normal day / photo discussion during a Google + Mentorship.

If you’re into photography – of any kind, at any level you should really check it out. Here are a few more of my assignment photos I took on the weekend:

My second Tuesday prompt from Kathy for Song-ography is: “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. Coincidentally it plays right along with ICM photos, because I will show you my very first attempts at these.

Here are a couple of photos I took for a very good friend at her wedding when I was still living in Germany, to be exact six years ago. I am pretty sure that a lot of people saw these pics and thought or said ‘what awful photographer took these?’. Well, as I said they are intentionally blurred to give the viewer a sense of dynamic. They are not perfect, but I think that goal at least I achieved. Oh, and I got normal, non-blurred photos of dancing, too, of course.

ICM dancing

Photography and more

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21 thoughts on “Intentionally blurred photos”

  1. Wow, those sure are interesting photos. The only one I ever took that was blurred was one of my grandson cooking scrambled eggs and his hand stirring the eggs in the pan disappeared because of the movement. They can be such fun.

    Reply
    • Well, that’s exactly the thing, Tamar. As a photographer I am always so intent on taking an in-focus shot that I sometimes for get the artist in me. An intentional (!) blur might be in order. I am having a lot of fun shooting and deleting hundreds of photos – LOL

      Reply
  2. HA! Love it. I have to say though I take blurry pictures pretty much all the time now. Even with anti-shake features in the camera, my hands shake a bit too much most of the time. I am now using a tripod for most of my pictures though how that will play out when I travel remains to be seen.

    Reply
    • Oh no! Not all the time, Debbi, right?! A tripod or anti-shake/anti-vibrate will certainly help getting those in-focus shots. While traveling I guess it all comes down to what you are comfortable with carrying and setting up. Honestly for my travel photography I hardly ever used a tripod. But – I am lazy like that 🙂

      Reply
  3. Great stuff right there. That’s why I love social media… sometimes, the comments are just pure entertainment and you know you are with likeminded people if they keep spinning the story along! When I first started taking photos for the blog, I played around with the “moving” pictures and it looks like I need to refresh my memory. Love it! 🙂

    Reply
    • Whenever I read that ‘little story’ I have to chuckle – such imagination, awesome! Yeah, I’ve experimented here and there, but never full on. Somehow, I am sure you can tell, I am somewhat bored (for lack of better word) with normal, straight photography these days, so this plays right into it

      Reply
  4. I used to read Weird New Jersey magazine so I’m certain this alien story could be true, no matter how far you are from New Mexico.
    What an interesting mentorship. We focus so much on completely sharp and still photos, that why not shake that up a bit?

    Reply
    • I’m really happy to read that you understand where I’m coming from, Tamara. There is nothing, nothing at all wrong with tack sharp photos – quite on the contrary. However, as an artist, I like to explore. Which I am doing.
      Figures that you read Weird NJ 🙂 I bought the odd issue, too

      Reply
  5. I enjoy a good intentional blur photo, when done on some subjects it is a work of art. Fun concept of group storytelling. Enjoy your mentorship.

    Reply
    • Except for the dance photos I hadn’t really tried intentional blur, well, of course, long exposure of water, but not moving the camera. That’s new. The mentorships are total fun and learning, experiencing.

      Reply

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