“The ocean calls to me. These photographs are my response.” ‘The Translucence of Time’ is the outcome of a seven-year project in which Jonathan Lipkin has tried to respond to the ocean he grew up by, listening to its changing and unstoppable rhythm. He tries to respond not to its outward appearance, but to its emotional resonance. This is complicated to capture in photographs, so the project involved a process of adapting to the technology it required. ‘Translucence of Time’ is the first chapter of a whole series that reflects on our relationship with nature.
Lipkin at first only came up with static images, in the traditional manner of taking them, but photos of this kind do not represent the passage of time, just moments that do not last more than a few seconds. Because his aim was to capture the ocean’s changes, movements, and waves, he needed a technique that encompassed more time. What he finally did was keep the camera shutter open longer. The results were not traditionally sharp images, but they suggest the fleeting nature of the sea.