For my photography project, I chose to create three images that fit into the trace category. In the trace category, the goal of images created was to “use a slow shutter speed to introduce blur–not to show movement as is often suggested–but instead to suggest a salient moment extended.” When creating my images, I had my shutter speed set to 30 seconds in order to give myself enough time to carefully draw onto my face and subject via a laser pointer. This prompted me with a bit of a challenge, as it is difficult to stay motionless while drawing. However, after a lot of trial and error I found that using a bathroom mirror as a reflection point allowed me to draw with as much control and precision as possible, and gave me the flexibility to limit my body movement while drawing.
While there is undeniably a blur on the figures portrayed in my images, their positioning remains stagnant. I think that the blur of the figure, coupled with the stark strokes of line created with the laser pointer make for an interesting contrast because of the juxtaposition between the geometric and organic edges. Additionally, I think that a commonality between all three of my images is the contours created between the body and the laser pointer, which create a state of tattoo-like permanence in contrast to the interactions between the laser pointer and the wall behind, which appear to be flushed of dimension.
These images were already unison before I edited them to black and white because of their consistent properties, however I think that editing them into black and white only amplified their commonalities because it allowed me to create a stronger contrast between the subject and the laser pointer drawings. Overall, I think that my trace images show a lot of consistency, and effectively depict a salient moment extended with the use of blur instead of motion.