In most cases, photography is used to “freeze time,” with a still image. Motion in photography creates a paradox: the image is a frozen moment in time but what is captured is an object that is a blur of motion – an apparent streaking, bending, distorting and /or movement of light and objects in the foreground or background of the image frame. Blur can demonstrate the velocity of movement. It can convey the emotional dimensions of the subject photographed, presenting dream like qualities by invoking the surreal and transitory nature of time passing. Meteors streak across the sky, ghostly figures move through a room, the artist paints shapes with a light source. These are some examples of how blur represents motion in time-lapse photography.

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