Photography and time representations

Abstract

Photography and time representations — We strive to understand how a photographic slice encodes “space”, while neglecting to consider “time”, a variable that is simply obliterated in this process. However, we can rediscover strategies that enable a photograph to build a reference to time and movement, albeit resulting in a still image. Thus, we come up with three possible ways of representing time in a photograph, namely: a) a time “inscribed” on the image in the form of a blur, a spatial trail left by the exposure of a moving object over a period of time; b) “refuted” time, the perception of time revealed by the forced way in which movement is paralyzed in a snapshot; and c) “decayed” time, the fragmentation of the stages of time in a group of several images that make up a photographic work.