M OV E M E NT
What path does the viewer take when
looking at a picture? What does the viewer
see? THAT IS MOVEMENT. A picture might
be worth a thousand words, but a picture
could also be a cluttered desktop. Where do
your eyes go when you look at a cluttered
desk? That is movement. Movement is about
the viewer... your viewer. Movement is not
motion. Movement is not linear. What do you
see when you look at a photo or page? What
do you see second? Third? I often return to
the Getty Museum’s Education site when I
confuse movement and motion. It doesn’t
really matter if you confuse the two, as long
as you know both exist. Many bad photos
would be eliminated if more photographers
understood Movement.
Annika’s second image allows for a viewer
to move through the image. I probably start
looking at the big fish and follow it to the
left. I probably follow the school of fish into
the top left corner and go across to the top
right where the image is the brightest. The
seaweed gives me another thing to see as
I am going along with the fish. The image
is not too busy or cluttered, but there is
enough to keep me viewing. Oh look, fish on
the bottom left! And then back to the main
topic fish.
I have included a couple of my roller derby
images to demonstrate that students can
combine motion and movement. In this
photo from the Women’s Flat Track Roller
Derby Regional Tournament in Tucson,
Arizona, I photographed Australia’s Victoria
Roller Derby League All-Stars warming
up before the final with a slow shutter at
1/40. The photo also has movement. In this
culture, we read from left to right, so we
often read images from left to right. I read
the white board that lists the black and white
team first. After moving left to right, I see
the skaters moving right to left. I also see the
WFTDA poster in the background going back
in the other direction. Perhaps my favorite
part are the three read letters SLY. Is this a
great photo? Probably not. The photo lacks
emotion and nobody cares that I am being
sly.