Most of us like to move, travel, and engage in different motion related activities that will allow us to enjoy specific visual perspectives and emotions. These are great chances for taking photographies, it may be from the scenery we can observe from a plane, train or vehicle, or if we have the right equipment, also pictures we may be able to take when engaged in sport or outdoor activities such as bungee jumping, kayaking, rafting, cycling, and the list can go on and on.
As a photographer, one owns the greatest and most personal of the powers, the decision on what is included and what is left out of the photographic frame. This applies to all types of photographies, as for this kind of photographies, we would usually intend to show not only what we see while involve in the movement, but also what is the activity we are performing. This is usually shown, from the context and background we are, showing other participants involved in the activity, or simply with gentle representation of the equipment required for the activity or elements of the vehicle or infrastructure we are placed - this creates context.
Depending on the type of movement or activity one intends to photograph, it can vary the required equipment, in some cases being enough with a phone camera, but in others going for more specialised cameras that can be submerged under water, or that due to their small size can be installed on a helmet or within other equipments, so we can keep our hands free to be used in the activity we are performing.
Depending on the effect that one aims to achieve we should make some decisions in relation to the shutter speed. A high shutter speed will allow to freeze movement, allowing for clear and sharp images. While a low shutter speed can actually create a fantastic blurry effect that is capturing the motion itself.
Obviously, do not compromise safety when aiming for this type of photography, for example if your hands should be somewhere else and not on your camera.
I chose the picture above as an example, as it does not only show the landscape or scenery, but it allows the viewer to imagine and understand that the photographer was involved in the activity, being very likely boarded into another truck that is driving ahead of the row of trucks. The trucks in this picture are a critical element to show a sequence, chronology and element repetition that emphasises and triggers the link on the viewer with the type of activity. The traces marked on the sand that define a pathway also facilitate this interpretation, and the motion and soil texture perception. These traces are also a great example on how to use leading lines to provide further meaning and guide the viewer’s look within the image, while being these lines a mere element of the picture and not the main subject of the photography.