Llewellyn Berry

Metro Bus on the Move

In the SLR, non-digital camera, the aperture’s function is to allow a certain volume (quantity) of light into the camera to expose the film. The shutter’s function is to control how long, that volume of light will expose the film. So, there is light plus time equals exposure.

When the photographer is confronted with an idea for a photograph based on what he sees in front of him, the machinations and manipulations of camera controls are made in a matter of seconds. Leaves are blowing. It’s a windy day and I want to show the motion of those leaves as they float through the air. With the non-digital camera, I must slow the shutter, and then adjust the aperture to where the meter indicates I have a correct exposure. The motion of the leaves is an element of time, represented by the shutter. Time is the constant and the f/stop is the variable and in this case, the variable controls the ultimate meter adjustment that will equal exposure.

The motion of an automobile is shown also by slowing down the shutter and adjusting the f/stop accordingly.

Below is a photograph I made one evening on 18th street in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. I was sitting in my car waiting for a friend. It was raining. I liked the raindrops on the side view mirror in juxtaposition with the larger image in the viewfinder’s rectangle of the street scene…the lights, the buildings and of course the well-known painting of Toulouse Lautrec’s, Aristide Bruant on the façade of Café Lautrec.

As I sat there in the driver’s side, I casually made f/stop and shutter adjustments to make the photograph. I was not particularly concerned with shutter or aperture. I think I may have set the shutter at 125 or so and let the f/stop determine the exposure for the meter. Then suddenly I noticed an approaching Metro Bus. I immediately decided I would show the motion of the bus. In order to do that I had to very quickly change the shutter speed to a slower speed and adjust the aperture accordingly. I believe I slowed it to a 60th or 30th of a second. The result is below.

My understanding of digital cameras is that a similar adjustment of the kind I made that evening could not have been made so quickly.

Metro Bus on the Move

Adams Morgan, Washington, DC

1984

This is one of my favorite photographs. I like the motion of the bus. I also like the juxtaposition of the raindrops on the side view mirror, the detail in the buildings along the road. In addition, there is a curious figure in the middle of the road that I did not notice during the exposure. It was some time afterward, in fact when I looked at the print. It actually looked like a humanoid figure crossing the street. Could it have been an actual human crossing the street? Nah, it was just a reflection of streetlights and rain. Still, it offers an item of controversy when all the elements of the photograph are considered.