Source #106 Autumn 2021

Time is made manifest in photographs in different ways. We are familiar with the frozen movement of a high speed exposure. Less familiar are images that record slow processes or that simply take a long time to register as in geology or astronomy. Jem Southam talks about his work, which has often been slow to make, using cumbersome equipment, and photographing apparently static subject matter like ponds and cliff faces. Yet his patient and precise method, as well as reflecting his temperament, draws our attention to the small details of incremental change. An extreme example of slow image making would be the 5,200 day exposure to record an image of the sun made by the Super- Kamiokande neutrino detector in Japan. Jost Migenda explains how this detector operates, what neutrinos are and how the most violent and extreme events in the galaxy give rise to the faintest, almost imperceptible signals.