I’m a Danish photographer who has been taking photos for many years. At first, I spent a long time photographing birds of prey and published a couple of photobooks on this subject. It was hard work learning about the birds’ behavior and trying to get the ultimate images, but also rewarding to spend a lot of time in nature. I also worked on documentary photography, publishing a book on Copenhagen and its growth by the water. Both these types of photography call for (mostly) sharp and in-focus photos.
Then, some years ago, I discovered Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). For those not yet familiar with this, it’s basically a type of photography where you move the camera during exposure. Let’s say that your exposure time for a well-exposed photo is 2 seconds, which leaves you these 2 seconds to move the camera vertically, horizontally, in circles, zooming in or out or any combination of these movements. By doing this, you have access to endless creative possibilities.
You can try to pre-visualize the results, but many times it’s close to impossible. This calls for a try-and-error approach whilst building your personal experience. The endless factors influencing the results will basically make every ICM photo unique.
When you get more experienced, you can teach yourself different techniques, for example, focusing on a subject in the first half of the exposure time and moving the camera in the last part. This can result in a photo, where the subject, for example a person, is more or less sharp/in focus, whilst the surroundings are blurred or seemingly moving.
I started my ICM journey using my Nikon full-frame camera, but it’s quite heavy to carry and use, and since you have the possibility of changing lenses, you tend to do that instead of really seeing and working with the scene in front of you. I thus found my old trusty Fuji X100S, and it turned out to be a perfect camera for the task, even though there are some times and situations where the capabilities of the Nikon full-frame camera can also be used.
A lot of my ICM work is done in low light with exposure times typically between 1 and 25 seconds. I set the ISO to 200 (the lowest on the X100S) and select an appropriate aperture. The aperture setting can naturally be used to obtain the desired exposure time, typically long enough. If you need longer exposure times than can be obtained this way, the X100S has a very conveniently built-in NDS filter, providing you with 3 stops extra blocking of the light. Connect this to the function button, and you can add or remove it with the pressing of one button.
Concerning exposure time, I often shoot in Bulb mode (set time to B). Instead of clicking on the shutter button, I hold it down for as long as I want. You can see a timer in the viewer. From here, you try one or a few times until you get the exposure right, and then you can start to move the camera during exposure. Mostly, subtle movements work best, unless you want some very special effects. Lights in your scene can be a double-edged sword, where you, on the one hand, need the light, but on the other hand, strong light sources will draw strong lighting trails that might not be what you wished for.
You can also apply Fujifilm’s film modes, for example, to create your own style.
On top of the camera’s great functionality, easy to carry and unobtrusive size, you get Fujifilm’s exceptionally great colors, and thus, you have a superb ICM machine.
Many of Fujifilm’s more modern cameras will work equally well with ICM, but the thing is, for ICM, the old trusty X100S is actually more than enough.
As for subjects, I’m all in for almost everything that is interesting enough to work with, so it can be nature photography, abstract or my favourite: low light city photography.
ICM has given me a creativity boost, since it’s no longer so much about technique and finding the perfect locations/situation, etc., but much more about how I can produce interesting photos from almost anything through ICM’s endless creative possibilities.
My current project is reinventing or reinterpreting the city of Copenhagen as a subject. I simply love to find scenes on and off the beaten track. It can be some metal pipes in a backyard that I find get a new and interesting look by the use of ICM, or a very much photographed place, I try to give new life through the use of ICM.
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