Moments in Time
Moments in time refers to a style of photography where I photograph a subject over the course of several hours without moving the camera. This allows me to blend together a combination of natural and artificial light over that time period into one image. To me, this is closer to how we actually experience a sunset or a sunrise than just one single image. Often times we take photos of an amazing sunset or sunrise and a single image just seems to fail at capturing the magic of the event that we felt at that time. With this style of photography the goal is to blend together all the best parts of light from a “moment in time” and if done properly the results can be stunning.
Below is collection of my favorite “moments in time” I have captured so far.
Singapore is one of the most beautiful most amazing cities on Earth. The Marina Bay skyline is is unmatched by any other skyline in the world (in my opinion). When the sky looked like this all of the lights of the buildings had not come on yet. Staying in place and waiting a little while longer to capture the buildings lights allows me to blend in the lit up buildings with the best parts of the sky.
The Gateway to the West. The famous Arch in St. Louis Missouri. This photo is a great example of the benefits of this style of photography. The wispy clouds were only there for short period of time and not during the colorful sunset. The arch did not have that golden reflection until the sun had already set. Blending them all together creates a stunning image that each one on their own just cannot accomplish.
The Hungarian Parliament building is one of the most spectacular buildings I’ve had the privilege of seeing in person. The building was not quite lit up yet when the pink clouds rolled in. This style of photography allows me have the best of both worlds.
My home town of Swansboro, North Carolina will always hold a special place in my heart. The Captain Phillips shrimping boat is not only an icon of Swansboro but of the entire Crystal Coast.
Traffic flows through a busy intersection of downtown Durham, North Carolina as the setting sun casts a golden light across the buildings.
The Downtown Cary Park in Cary, North Carolina. This was a commissioned piece for a client who wanted me to photograph the park for him in my style. I figured what better time to do a time blend of this beautiful park.
My wife’s family lives in upstate New York and every year we vacation in Brant Lake, New York near Lake George. Every year I try to do a star trail photo as the Adirondack Mountains have some very clear night skies. This particular year I wanted to have my star trails blend into a blue hour shot for the foreground and have the star trails blend into the very last bit of sunset colors left on the sky.
If you are ever in Singapore taking in the laser light show from the Marina Bay Sands Hotel is a must during your stay. The laser light show takes place 3 times a night every hour starting at 8pm.
The famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
I was hoping to photograph one of those iconic amazing sunsets the North Carolina coast is famous for. On this occasion it just never really happened. Struggling to decide what to do, I decided to stay put and just shoot through the evening. This is one of my personal favorite time blends. I just really like the way the sunset fades into the night sky and the light beams going around the lighthouse.
Time blending isn’t just for cities. It can work in nature too. This was the view from my Airbnb in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. The sunset cast a beautiful golden light across the mountains and as the sun went down lots of little lights started to show in the mountains that otherwise, you wouldn’t know were even there.
Karlskirche, or St. Charles Church in Vienna, Austria. Another example of when the sunset just doesn’t work out. Without the lights I feel like this would be kind of a boring image. My only wish here is that more of the surrounding area would have lit up.
A panoramic image of where Buda meets Pest. Yes Buda and Pest are actually two different cities united by several bridges spanning the Danube River.
The Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina. This historic courthouse sits in the middle of downtown Pittsboro. Another thing you can do with this style of photography is add light trails into a sunset shot. When the sun is still out it’s too bright to get long light trails. But waiting till after the sun goes down and capturing the light trails then, allows you to incorporate them into your shot.
Day to Night at the Bogue Inlet Pier in Emerald Isle, North Carolina.
A day to night image is a fun way to try something different and come away with a truly unique image that can separate your work from the crowd.
What is a day to night image? Simply put, it is an image shot over the course of a period of time, it could be only a couple hours to an entire day, showing the transition from daylight to dark. Then, using several different techniques, you blend all of your favorite parts over that period of time into one day to night image. One draw back of doing this is you are only going to be able to do one composition as the camera cannot move while shooting. So you better be sure you are happy with your composition.
If you are interested in learning how this was done please check out my video below explaining a little bit about how I shot this but mostly about how I put it together in Photoshop.