The Singapore-based photographer Fong Qi Wei, has challenged the idea that a photo is single captured moment. He has produced a series of images called ‘Time is a Dimension.’ They capture the passage of time by combining numerous photographs to compose an existence rather than just a moment.
From Fong Qi Wei: ‘This series of images are mostly landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes, and they are a single composite made from sequences that span 2-4 hours, mostly of sunrises and sunsets.’
His images are still yet they depict movement and passage of time. They remind me of renderings that designers are producing today. I think there is an awareness that producing a photorealistic render is sometimes disadvantageous. It would no longer serve as a design tool but rather simply as presentation/representative material. I think Wei was successful in showing the cyclical nature of architecture, or as he stated ‘landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes.’ Architecture does not exist in a single moment. The limitation of a single still image is that it only captures moments rather than an existence. That’s where Wei has proposed a single image that reaches beyond its bounds to depict movement and passage of time.
Courtesy of Fong Qi Wei
His image ‘Bali Rock,’ showing an immense rock on the beach, is particularly successful in capturing an existence rather than an image. You can see traces of imprints in the sand, and you can see the changing tide.
His images are carefully composed. I’m just marveling at the rigor evident in his work. It means he has to imagine the play of events throughout the day before capturing then composing.
Courtesy of Fong Qi Wei