{"id":868,"date":"2017-12-16T12:24:40","date_gmt":"2017-12-16T17:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forestrat.com\/mwp\/?p=868"},"modified":"2017-12-25T09:53:38","modified_gmt":"2017-12-25T14:53:38","slug":"trails-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forestrat.com\/mwp\/2017\/12\/16\/trails-of-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Trails of light"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was in the fifth or sixth grade I found a Kodak travel camera<\/a> tucked away on the top shelf of the hallway closet buried under a pile of winter gloves and hats. It had a bellows on the front so it could be folded up flat and carried in a leather case. It didn’t need batteries because it didn’t have electronic anything – just manual levers and dials. I used that camera for quite a while. I wonder what ever became of it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the best feature about it was that I could lock the shutter open and take time exposures. Next thing you know I’m in the garage converting my father’s transit tripod that he used for work into a camera tripod (sorry Dad) and shooting long exposures of waterfalls or of the stars wheeling round in the night sky. I’ve been fascinated with time exposures ever since.<\/p>\n

Fast forward more years than I care to admit to find me digging around in some boxes of old stuff and I stumble across a stack of photos that I had taken with that camera way back when. Photo number 1 is one of them. Remember that this is a scan of a print made by a kid and it has been knocking around in dresser drawers and cardboard boxes for decades so it’s in pretty rough shape, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n

\"Photograph
Photo 1: A vintage light trail photo I took when I was a kid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thought this image with the wild spinning trails of light was pretty cool so I decided to see if I could re-create it.<\/p>\n

My kid setup was a bare flashlight bulb and some wire taped to a D cell battery hung from the upstairs hallway light by some black thread. Closing all the bedroom doors I made the hallway almost as dark as night. I set the camera on the floor. I didn’t have a cable release so I put a card over the lens and locked the shutter open. I turned on my light bulb and gently started it swinging around. I removed the card from the lens and watched as the light went spinning and whirling through the darkness. After a while I put the card back on the lens and closed the shutter.<\/p>\n

Of course I was using film back then so I took exposure after exposure without knowing what I was capturing until I developed the film. I tried different camera settings and different swing patterns just going by feel and my minds eye. Would be photographers had to use more imagination back then – no preview windows on the back of the camera for instant feedback.<\/p>\n

My new setup didn’t use an incandescent bulb and a heavy battery. Instead I used a small key chain light with an LED in it and a digital camera with a remote shutter release. The LED gave me a nice clean thin line, but I think it was too lightweight and too balanced. The heavy uneven weight of the battery and bulb kit gave a more complex pattern of swirling and spinning.<\/p>\n

\"Light
Light trail photograph taken with my new digital setup.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was fun to go back to my childhood for an afternoon and do some experimenting. Someday I may try it again. I have some ideas for more complex light arrangements that could produce some real Spirograph<\/a> type effects. Maybe I could add in some color too.<\/p>\n

MDW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was in the fifth or sixth grade I found a Kodak travel camera tucked away on the top shelf of the hallway closet buried under a pile of winter gloves and hats. 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