Outer Banks, Time Exposure of Shells

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OBX Shells

The cottage we stay at Avon, on the North Carolina Outer Banks, is obviously a popular rental for parents of young children. We found these shells and other found items from the beach carefully arranged between two panels of boardwalk leading from the house. The pink plastic bracelet probably wasn’t from the beach.

This was shot at night, on Fuji NPX-160 film, using a Rapid-Omega 100 camera with Koni-Omega 60 mm lens. The 6X7 cm negative was scanned. This was a time exposure, determined by the amount of time it took to paint the subject with light from a small flashlight. As you can tell from the shadows, the flashlight was mostly used from the right side, although the boardwalk was lit with it from above.

Avon on Dwellable

Robert Frank, Ruth Orkin, Young Photographers Award - Life Magazine

I’m a bit of a “collector” of old Life Magazines. Collector is in quotes because I don’t collect them in the usual sense. I buy ones covering interesting time periods, or ones that have unusual photographs. The way in which events are described and photographed are often as telling as the stories and images themselves. The biases and culture of the time are revealed. Oddly enough, sometimes the advertising can reveal how different people were.


Recently I picked up one from November 26th, 1951, which had the results of the “Young Photographers Contest.” The second and third prize winners were none other than Robert Frank and Ruth Orkin.
A bit surprising to find them in Life, but they certainly were both among the most interesting photographers of the era. One of the frequently quoted quotes of Frank appeared in this Life Magazine; "When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice." Robert Frank, LIFE (26 November 1951).

It was Ruth Orkin that I was most familiar with, since my Daughter and Son-in-Law had a wall size poster of “An American Girl in Italy.”

In this photograph, a pretty woman is walking through a group of men in Italy on a street corner. Her face is contorted in disgust as two of the men clutch their pants suggestively, while the others appear to be calling out to her. I read later that this was a friend of Orkin’s who she asked to walk down the sidewalk so she could get a photograph. The expressions really convey everything immediately.
The other photograph of hers that intrigued me was “Comic Book Readers.” In this case it’s the rapt attention of the children who have obviously been transported into another world.

Robert Frank is better known, and his book The Americans is perhaps what he is best known for. The photo I linked to is one of my favorites. I won’t attempt to interpret this photo, but I do like how the figure on the right loses identity to the waving flag.

I bought the magazine just based on the cover, and had no idea these two photographer were amongst the winners until I started paging through it.

Board Walk, The Outer Banks of North Carolina

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This is another photograph in which the image was formed during a time exposure by “painting” light with a flashlight. It was taken on wooden walks constructed as a path through the dunes, in the Outer Banks.

This is the side of the dunes facing away from the ocean, where the growth can get dense.

In this case, the flashlight, taped over with black tape with the exception of the front, was used within the frame to add very directional light to the boards. As long the front of the light is kept pointing away from the lens, and the light is kept moving, its image will not show on the film. I also used it sparingly to keep a darker, shaded look to the image.

Active Memorial Displays - Grave in Avon North Carolina

You really need to see the detail in the image to understand it. Please click on the image above to see it larger.

There seems to be some signs of a change in the way we are inclined to memorialize the departed. The word “shrine” seems appropriate. Perhaps the beginning of this possible trend was the roadside memorial. We’ve all seen them, and there has been at least one photo project to document roadside memorials. I don’t now if it was in Camera Arts or another of the black and white photo magazines.

Contrasted with most graveyards (I’m reminded of my youth, driving by miles and miles of the Forest Lawn graveyard, stretching as far as the eye could see, on the Long Island Expressway) this is a far more vital and active way of memorializing. It also gives the living a means of expression in the present, rather than obsessing just on the past. Generally these memorials have some of the cherished possessions of the departed.

I’ve been following some these memorials in Avon, N.C. for a while, an old fishing community now driven by the Cottage industry : >. Avon lost its share of Watermen to the sea and to the Sound.

The town of Avon, on the Sound side, has an old church (now closed and moved somewhere else) that has a boardwalk to a ship launching pier. Each year a ceremony is held, and an empty skiff is launched to memorialize those who lost lives on the water. That same church has a graveyard that has some active memorial displays. The above image is a recently changed small memorial. The photograph above is a black and white image to which muted color has been added to a few elements. I found this the best way to deal with the somber nature of the subject.

Mary Ellen Mark, Paramount Theatre, Charlottesville

Last night I attended Mary Ellen Mark’s presentation. Martin Bell Alex Chadwick served as interviewer and commentator and work was shown that spanned her earliest to her latest work. The images were projected on the Paramount’s projection system, and the results were good. As with any projected image, the range isn’t quite as good as when viewing a well lit print. However, I don’t think that impacted the enjoyment of the images.
The audience was extraordinarily silent during the presentation of the images she took in Iceland. This was the “Extraordinary Child” series, and the series was presented without comment. I felt myself completely absorbed by what I saw, drawn into the faces in each image. It was one of the most powerful series of photographs I have ever seen.

Hat in Sand - The Outer Banks, North Carolina

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I’ve been visiting the Outer Banks, and I notice as soon as I start walking down the beach, I end up looking at the sand passing below my feet. I’m not the only one either, as I see other souls floating along with their eyes on the sand.

I’m not shell collector, but it is interesting to see what the sea will come up with. Some of the oddness comes from the shear amount of man-made flotsam available.

This photo is the remnants of a hat mixed in with sand and shrimp skeletons, and some other unidentified items that one would probably not want to know about. It’s sort of an overhead view of a head, except the cranial area is a turbulent mass of detritus. It kind of suggests the way I “think.” I felt some kinship, as though I had recognized myself flattened and washed up in the sand.

Portrait of MJ

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This is a portrait of Mary Jane taken using a flashlight and the 4X5 camera with a sheet of Tri-X Pan film. The neighbor’s cat had followed MJ in and snoozed out on her lap.

The flashlight/time exposure technique was used. The room is almost dark and the shutter is opened. A flashlight is used to carefully add light to the areas desired. The flashlight is completely covered with black tape. As long as it’s kept moving, it won’t show even when within the frame area of the image.
Being able to use the light on an oblique angle showed the folds and details of her coat, and set a highlight on the brim of her hat. On the other hand, her face is fully lit without the shadows that would have been formed by side lighting. It is not a “soft” light, and won’t create the soft shadows that wrap around an object’s edges as a soft box does. The end result looks more like the 1940’s era photos of film stars, which was typically lit with film style lights. MJ’s pose was her own addition to the mix, and fits the style. A 25 year old refrigerator is lurking behind her, but thankfully it caught no light.

All it takes is a tripod, flashlight and camera.