E Y E W I T N E S S
R O M E
Sistine seconds
In our monthly photo column,
Nicolas
Ruel
reveals why he only needs eight
seconds to get the perfect picture
“
painters start with
a white canvas – I start with a city
and take a few pictures, play with the angles. The 8
Secondes project started in Paris after a show in 2007.
I saw some interesting light, so decided to impose a
challenge, using an eight-second shutter speed.
I set the camera to one exposure and focused on the
subject, then moved the camera to a second subject
and that’s how I ended up with two subjects overlaid in
the same image. There’s no Photoshop involved –
all the movement and double exposure is
made in the camera.
“
This image was taken at the
Sistine Chapel in Rome. I spent
an hour there and saw this guy
sitting on the ground, looking at
Michelangelo’s ceiling – if you
look in the centre you can see
the famous image of God and the
hand. It’s my favourite picture from
the trip because of the shadowy
figure. I like to have people in the
shots, because it means the image is
always changing. It poses questions: is the
guy going to move in those eight seconds?
“
In the beginning, I was going to do eight cities for the
project; I’m now doing 50. By the end it will be nine or
10
years’ work. It’s worth it though. The world is very
small, but at the same time it’s really big, so you need
to take the time to do it.”
See the entire 8 Secondes project and more of Nicolas
Ruel’s work at nicolasruel.com
If you
look in
the centre
you can
see the
famous
image of
God
AS TOLD TO
VICKY LANE
0 1 9
R E G U L A R S
