Special Feature: ICM

Intentional Camera Movement - Painting with Your Camera

By Judy Stokes APSNZ

Intentional Camera Movement (affectionately known as ’Blurry Shite’) is for me a way of playing behind the camera – a way to find that joy and sense of wonder we had as kids – a way to explore the unexpected and feel a bit of magic touch our day – simply a way to have FUN!!

Charcoal Sunset

So, how do we create these photographic images that look like paintings?

The Stacks at Muriwai

For me the recipe for making an ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) image is a little like making a curry or wholesome stew – it definitely is not like making a perfectly baked cake where everything is measured and weighed precisely and steps are carefully followed! I find it’s more of a ’throw in a bit of this and that – and ooooh let’s add some of this today!’ Every time it is a bit different, depending on what ingredients you have in front of you and depending on the mood of the cook!

Untethered Flight Flying High The Essence of Flight A Mood of Muriwai ii

There are two things that are consistent for me - firstly, it is shutter speed that is the most important variable I play with (I usually go 1/30 sec or slower) and secondly, a tripod is not in sight!

Shoot while walking

Zoom as you press the shutter

Pan as you shoot

Shoot from a moving car

Go out and shoot in any weather

’Shake Rattle and Roll’ that little black box while you take the shot!

Alone Together

There are also a couple of things I find that disturb the mix of ICM images and kill the flavour! Firstly, I find constant chimping (looking at the images in the camera) while shooting really disrupts my flow. Instead I just enjoy the actual act of taking the images and keep my head in the journey and process. Every image for me is a ’..oooh what happens if I try this now…and … mmm… look what that light is doing now!!…ahh….if I lie in the sand and wriggle this way, look at the cool angle I get!! ..and now how am I going to shake my camera while in this position?! I do all of this with the camera to my eye and without looking at the results I am getting.

The second ingredient I find that kills an ICM image is trying too hard! I have had many people on workshops with a definite picture in their head that they want to create! Yes, this certainly works for other genres of photography, but I find with ICM it just doesn’t work like that – I find it’s the one genre of photography where taking your camera out for the pure pleasure of it, taking your camera out knowing that today you are going to allow yourself to just play, and not knowing what you are going to get, gives you the right type of headspace where magic can happen. For some people this lack of a plan and preconceived structure is very hard and for others it comes as naturally as a duck taking to water.

Sunset Glow The Freedom to Be

ICM photography, like other forms of photography, also takes practice – the more you do it the better your ’hit’ rate gets. You get to figure out which subject matter and which scenes work better than others for you – I find for me, flowers don’t naturally lend themselves to ICM whereas birds and water do. I also find consistent practice gets my creative juices flowing. If I haven’t picked up my camera for a while I can literally feel the rust, and everything I do feels clunky. If I am shooting every day – even for a short time, I just start seeing differently and creativity kicks in much more easily. When I go out I never look for shots – I wait until they jump out and grab me. Sometimes I don’t take a single one – or just a few – other times hundreds!

As an extension of ICM shooting I continue this sense of play when I do post production of my images – again I don’t force the process but let it take me on a journey – I never know what the finished product is going to look like but play in Photoshop. Sometimes I will spend five minutes on post processing a photograph – perhaps just a crop and a wee tweak – sometimes an hour. I will often combine a couple of ICM photos with each other, as well as combining ’straight‘ shots with ICM shots.

Resting Windmill in the Wildflowers

Intentional Camera Movement photography for me beats any form of meditation hands down. While I am behind the camera I become totally absorbed and the world melts away. The post processing then carries on the good work. While I am post processing I think of the things that have been nagging me in my head and work them out putting them into the photographs I am creating.

Uncharted Voyage

I can highly recommend giving this form of photography a go. I love many other genres of photography too, but for me ICM has something a little different and special – I find it sits a little closer to the other forms of art I love. I find it is a comfortable place to break the rules and create something a little unique with a flavour of its own every time!

If you want a hand at getting started or at shaking off the rust – feel free to contact me at judystokesphotography.com. I do workshops and two-day photographic retreats at Muriwai. I also work with Gail Stent FPSNZ, giving Wild Child Photography workshops around New Zealand, where ICM is one of the components of a Creative Photography Weekend, and I am looking forward to holding a second PSNZ ’Painting with your Camera‘ workshop in 2021 in the South Island.

Let Someone Hold Your Hand

Thoughts from the Industry

by Ken Newell (Lacklands)

WELL THAT WAS a year, wasn’t it? We’ve all been tested, including us in the photo industry. We have seen friends close their businesses, and lose their jobs. Good people leave the industry to prioritise their families. We’ve learned to maximise our time with teleconferencing and telecommuting. We’ve done the hard yards. We’ve done more, with less.

Your local photo store has hopefully endured and now needs you, just as you have needed their straight advice and help over the years. The costs of employing good people, carrying stock and being available to help when things go bad haven’t changed, but their revenues have, and the next 12 months will be critical for many in photo retail. They are our lifeblood in the wholesale photo industry, and we really do need your help to sustain them, help them rebuild and ensure there is a local photo industry for years to come.

So get out there, explore everything that our beautiful country has to offer this summer, and here’s to a positive new year for photography in New Zealand!