Project

Night Shift
 
Our times reflect the unique qualities of the communication age along with economic and cultural issues that were familiar to those before us. As working hours again grow longer, the night again becomes part of our conscious experience. I chose to create this body of images in relation to my night security job in part because of the connection that we make between cameras and security.
 
Making a pinhole photograph at night requires some time as well as careful camera placement. To survive the series of four hour exposures unmolested, the camera must be placed in a fashion so that it can see but that no one will be aware of its presence. Sometimes it ends up amid bushes and trees and other times in much more obvious locations that people often fail to look at.
 
As a product of the long exposure, time and movement are compressed into single frames and light appears as a strange and solid form. The different points of view lend a voyeuristic quality to the images which points suspiciously to the idea of night photography being sinister and secretive. Photographers are viewed now with such suspicion, even while surveillance cameras knowingly record many aspects of our daily lives.
 
What is the connection between cameras and public safety? Is the idea of being constantly recorded balanced out by the idea that we are safer? Is photography more acceptable or safer when used by an institution rather than an individual? These questions are answered daily by our actions and our consent.
 
W. Ratcliffe