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Shadow Boxing: A Photographer's Manifesto
How Long is a Photograph?
The shutter opens and closes in the merest fraction of a second. The light, traveling at 186 thousand miles each second, charges through the lens to invade the film and create an instantaneous change in the emulsion. The photograph is made. How long is a photograph?
The film is inserted into the camera. The photographer scans the surround and determines the figure. An idea emerges, is acted upon, and the film is exposed. How long is a photograph?
The camera is selected. The film chosen and loaded. The location is decided upon and transportation arranged. Once there, the subject is located, framed and metered. Equivalent exposures are weighed and one set. Last minute decisions are made and the film exposed. Back in the darkroom, the chemistry is evaluated, then mixed. Tanks are cleaned and dried. Film is spooled; developer and fix introduced in turn. The dryer takes its turn with the negatives, as does the proof glass, the enlarger and the dry mounter. Finally, a mat and frame enclose the photograph. How long is a photograph?
A new camera is purchased. "Now at last I can take good pictures!" the would be photographer exclaims. Trying to perfect the craft, many exposures are attempted. Weeks, months, years pass. Rolls upon rolls of film are exposed. Images abound, pictures are everywhere. However photographs - real photographs - are nonexistent, until this exposure. It is this photographer's first Photograph. The shutter opens and closes in the merest fraction of a second. The light, traveling at 186 thousand miles each second, charges through the lens to invade the film and create an instantaneous change in the emulsion. The photograph is made. How long is a photograph?