Early Experimentation

In the mid to late 80s, when I was in journalism school, I was really learning how to get the most out of a camera. Until this time, I used a camera to capture simple images of people and places.

It wasn't until high school, in the early to mid 80s, that I picked up an SLR camera, graduating beyond my old Kodak 110 instamatic. With my father's Minolta SR-T 101, I learned how to use aperture and shutter speeds to my advantage, and thanks to my buddy, Stuart, I learned how to develop black-and-white film and print photos.

But in journalism school, our photography teacher had us focus (no pun intended) on more than the basics to get photos that stood out. I took a lot of really crappy photos during that time but I learned a lot more, and my photos started getting better.

It was during this period that I bought my Minolta X-700 camera and a zoom lens, which gave me more flexibility and was more advanced than the SR-T 101 (though, these days, when I feel like shooting 35mm film, the older Minolta is my go-to camera). Shortly after buying the X-700, the manager of the camera store poached me from another store in the mall, and I learned even more about photography.

Until this time, I had always focused (again, no pun intended) on ensuring the shutter speed was set fast enough to guarantee a sharp image. I adhered to the rule that, for hand-held shooting, you never used a shutter speed that was slower than the reciprocal of the focal length: that is, if you're shooting with a 50mm lens, your shutter speed should never be slower than 1/60th of a second.

Working in the camera store, I had access to photography books and magazines, and I would read them when it was quiet. I would see some amazing photographs and would learn about how they were captured.

And I'd want to duplicate the effect.

In one book, I saw a long exposure of a night sky, where stars streaked in a curve above a line of trees. I had never used my camera on a tripod before so never shot slower than what I could get by hand-holding my gear. My father had a tripod and a cable release for the shutter, so one evening, I borrowed them and drove out into the country, outside of city lights.

I don't remember exactly where I drove to that night but it was a narrow road with tall trees, no street lights, and wide enough for me to pull over safely. My old camera bag was packed with a small flashlight, and I would have likely used it to set up.

Because this was long before the digital age, before we could instantly see our image and determine if it was properly exposed, I only have a couple of shots from that night. One was entirely overexposed and washed out the trees and the road; another, underexposed, with only a few stars in short trails exposed.

Obviously, I was experimenting with the shutter speed and aperture, because one shot, though a bit underexposed, seemed to be set somewhere in between the other two shots. And because of the result, I remember a few details surrounding this capture.

I remember only wanting to capture the trees and stars, wanting to get a picture that was similar to the one I saw in a book in the camera shop. On this deserted road, outside of the city, I didn't expect to capture anything more.

But shortly after I started the exposure, a car passed by.

I remember thinking that the car probably ruined my shot, so after it was gone, I took another shot. Not wanting to blow through an entire roll of film (this was E-6 slide film), I called it a night after the fourth shot and drove home.

Eventually, I finished the roll, capturing other long exposures. I made my way to the Ottawa River and slowed down some quick rapids. I went to a fair and blurred out some moving amusement rides.

When my slides came back, a lot of them were crap. But some stood out, and surprisingly, the shot that was photobombed by that car was the best of the night shots.

Okay, it's not the sharpest. I was focusing in the dark. And it was an experimental shot.

I also liked some of the water shots, and perhaps I'll share those in a future post. But my first attempt at long-exposure night photography was a success. I haven't really given thought to capturing star trails with digital cameras but perhaps I should re-examine this technique.

Happy Friday!