Chrono Cubism Photography

“Photography only lets you capture instants (even long exposures are only blurred instants). So, I hacked the idea of photography, mixing together many photos of the same scene into a single one, slicing and dicing the images and putting them back together, chronologically. I call the grammar behind it ‘chrono cubism.” – Diego Kuffer

In his latest photography project “In Transit,” Diego Kuffer took multiple photographs of stationary scenes and merged them together to create a surreal “chrono cubist” view of the world. It’s like a still frame time-lapse animation.

Brazilian photographer Diego Kuffer takes the concept of photomontage to another level in his series, In Transit…

Recently posted to his website, Kuffer’s pixellated-looking work presents several images of the same thing – be it a merry-go-round or traffic on an underpass – chopped up into a composite image.

Unlike the traditional ‘photomontage’ technique of overlaying printed images to form a unified picture – which everyone from me to David Hockney has had a go at (why not just use a wide angle lens?) – Kuffer’s creations suggest what is and isn’t there in any given stretch of time. Almost like a still image of a whole film, if that were possible.

After experimenting with the medium, Kuffer explains on his website, he became frustrated at only being able to capture “instants”.

“So, I decided to hack photography,” he writes, “[taking] the technique behind movie making and applying it to my photos. Photographing the same instant several times, slicing and dicing the results and mixing it all together chronologically. This way I was able to capture a moment, not showing what exactly happened, but at least showing that a moment happened.”

While some of the images perhaps don’t record the most interesting of subjects and are more concerned with capturing the ‘movement’ of a street scene, for example, some of the more abstract pieces are really rather beautiful.

Some other works of Diego Kuffer:

The whole series can be viewed at diegokuffer.com.br.

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