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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Two: implying motion by using expressive blur > Cyclist, Sadec, Vietnam, 2008
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04-JAN-2008

Cyclist, Sadec, Vietnam, 2008

The blue shutters are tack sharp. The speeding motorbike appears to be stopped in its tracks, but is not clearly defined. Even though I use a shutter speed of 1/400th of second here, which is very fast, it is not fast enough to completely freeze the machine and its riders all of their detail. And it is that little touch of blur here that gives the image its vitality – the machine seems to quiver in place – the profile of its driver vibrates with energy, in striking contrast to the crisply defined detail in the shutters behind him. Many photographers would scrap such an image because they wanted to “stop” the bike with clarity. I would urge them to reconsider their decision, and look at its blur as an expression of vibration and motion. And that is what motorbikes are all about.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/400s f/6.3 at 11.4mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis29-Jan-2008 23:42
You are right, Jenene. It is up to us to place the movement where it says what we want it to say. In this case, it's the building that goes nowhere, while the motorbikes whiz past it. And that is the way it should be. It is not the buildings that bring energy to this place -- it's the human activity that throbs with vitality and movement.
JSWaters29-Jan-2008 21:20
Wouldn't it be interesting to view this image side by side with an identical shot that uses panning so that the background blurred intstead of the bike? It could illustrate how different the interpretations would be when the method of capture is changed. You have done a wonderful job of relaying the way of life here....fast and full of energy. It's so appropriate that the vitality is emphasized where it belongs - on the living and moving things.
Jenene
Phil Douglis21-Jan-2008 04:59
Thanks, Alina. The blur makes the shot. Without it, the motorcycle does not seem to move.
Alina20-Jan-2008 22:31
You captured the motion nicely. I like the blur.
Phil Douglis20-Jan-2008 02:30
You see this all the time in Vietnam. The new helmet law does not include young children. There apparently are no helmets that small. They are carried as passengers all the time, however. And almost all of them are masked. This is the way hundreds of kids go to school in Vietnam, at least until they ride their bicycles and later, their own motorbikes.
Guest 20-Jan-2008 01:33
So weird. He is wearing a helmet but the child isn't. The child is wearing a mask, but he isn't. Isolating this one motorcycle out of many brings focus on the mode of family transportation in Vietnam. The motion reminds us that they aren't simply sitting still. This little child is perched there. Can you imagine that in Canada or the U.S.
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