A curious obsession with camera rotation photography

For around 8 or 9 years, I've been a little bit obsessed with camera rotation photography. The technique to create these images involves rotating the exact centre of the lens axis pointed at a suitable subject. I mostly shoot these images at night but it is possible to do this during the daylight, although it's not as easy.

The technique involves "the lens cap" trick. By this I mean you expose one part of the image for a set amount of time and then replace the lens cap without ending the exposure. The camera is then rotated and lens cap removed to let in more light. This process is repeated anything from two to as many rotations as you like. With this technique, less is more and throwing in too many rotations can lead to a jumbled mess! It takes a little practice but rotating a camera can be quite therapeutic!

It's been at least 6 months since I shot any camera rotation stuff and last night I ventured out in to Sheffield city centre for a solo walkabout.

The Corporation

As I parked my car up on a side street, I spotted a venue with bright lights surrounded by dark areas. Camera rotations work best in high contrast situations of dark and light so this place drew my interest.

At first I thought the venue was a Chinese restaurant or some other such nationaility but it turns out it was a club (I don't know what to call these places these days, club, nightclub, disco??).

Outside the club there were people queuing and usually I wouldn't point a camera in the direction of people who may have consumed alcohol but I tried it anyways. To my surprise there wasn't a murmur from the crowd as I rotated my camera!

To start off I shot a four way rotation:

To give the above image context, this is the scene. The car parked on the left created a dark space which is useful in this kind of photography.

Changing position and aim can make a whole different image:

This is the above image but rotated eight ways instead of four:

The CRT

Over the years, I had many incarnations of camera rotation tools "CRT" but this one is by far the most accurate I've ever used.

I've experimented with home made and shelf bought solutions but this rig is a bit of a hybrid of parts. I also found that the weight of the lens can weigh down the lens axis so much so that you can end up with a non circular rotation. I now use lighter lenses!

Shooting Brutalist Architecture

Last night I shot this huge illuminated electricity sub station. It's been lit blue and yellow for years and coincidentally these are the colours of Ukraine!

This is a double rotation. By that I mean I rotated the image eight ways and then panned the camera slightly and repeated the process. I liked how the contrasting yellow parts link up around the frame.

This is the same sub station rotated four ways:

The Windmill Obsession

On another evening I shot the windmill and this is probably my favourite all time camera rotation. I've stared at this image for ages looking at the way the parts of the windmill gear link up around the frame.

About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.

Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/

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WHAT IS LIGHTPAINTING?
Lightpainting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera, or by moving the camera itself during exposure. Nothing is added or removed in post processing.

Single exposure Light Art Photography - no layers - no tricks - no photoshop

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