Escalator Blur John Timbrell ARPS

EDDIE MORTON ARPS AWARD

I enjoy photographing people inside art galleries and museums and I often spend time in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London. A current project is capturing movement using a slow shutter speed such as people on escalators. Having a stationary object or person in the picture emphasises the movement. I was standing on the first floor of the NPG with my camera with a shutter speed of 1 second waiting for a suitable group of people to appear on the escalator. One did and luckily a man stopped at the top of the stairs so providing the stationary object and completing the picture. There was an agonising wait for the person in the red coat to reach the right position on the escalator before the man moved. Fortunately he didn’t. As is often the case, our photography needs us to be lucky sometimes.

Eddie Morton ARPS

I’m sure my selection of John Timbrell’s picture will be a controversial choice, being part colour and monochrome. The picture received a strong reaction from the other selectors.

I enjoyed the strong diagonal of the escalator with the mystery of where are the people going. Bottom right is the man on the step, again what is he doing!`

All the elements of the photograph hold together well, with no unwanted distractions.