Rant about ICM - Intentional Camera Movement

Using the term ICM really annoys me. It pushes my buttons. I simply just don’t understand it. Besides, using another acronym to describe your work. No thanks.

Using it as a term to describe your own work puts a huge limitation on your work. By using it as a term you are creating a limiting belief.

For those of you not into photography, it is when the photographer moves the camera during the exposure to create a different effect. Much like the photograph that I have included above. It can be used in a multitude of ways. It is a technique I use regularly, it is in my bag of tricks, you have seen it here regularly. I teach it regularly.

If you are using intentional camera movement with multiple exposures, then what are you? What happens to those photographs where you didn’t move the camera?

But, it is just one of many techniques that can be used to create abstract photographs Photographs that are impressionistic creative, and expressionistic. Just one. The photograph I have included today is taken on a tripod and has absolutely zero Intentional Camera Movement. Yet it emulates a photograph that I could have taken with the technique, totally and beautifully. I could also easily create the look in photoshop and other create image processing software. Very easily.

You can also play with different lenses and what you put in front of your lens. There are so many ways of creating interesting blur and softness in your work.

I decided long ago to promote an ‘Abstract Photography Workshop’ specifically because we actively teach so many more methods of creating beautiful creative art. Abstract Photography. It is the best I can come up with.

There is a reason I didn’t go with Impressionistic or Expressionistic Photography. That is because by doing so you are clearly referencing specific art movements.

I think it is incredibly important to think about the words you use to describe your art. Think about what they mean to you and to the wider history of photography and the visual arts. Be really careful about creating a limiting belief around the words you use.

Personally, I like to think of myself as an artist. My art is my art. I am happy to mix and match when I am creating it, following my intuition. When exhibiting it, or publishing it I prefer to put it into meaningful bodies of work.

Above Pieman River, The Tarkine, Tasmania. Bellow, Stockton Beach. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2020