Photographer Rick Graves captures emotion in motion
By MARRIE STONE
Photos by Jeff Rovner
While most photographs represent a moment in time, Rick Graves’ photos represent time in a moment. How is it possible to experience the passage of time by looking at a still image? Graves has unlocked the secret. Drawing from his background as a race car enthusiast, his talent as a photographer and his skills in mathematics and engineering, Graves devised a special system – known as DistaVision – to capture motion on a single strip of film.
He’s traveled to racetracks around the world – from Paris to Del Mar – following NASCAR drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, horses and runners. He’s taken his camera into nature, tracking herds of wild mustang in Utah and stampeding zebras in Africa. He’s braved hurricanes and bustling city streets in New York, Tokyo, Paris and Vegas.
Next Thursday, Feb. 20, Graves will share his unique innovation – along with plenty of colorful backstories – at LOCA’s monthly Art Talk.
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FOA Photographer Rick Graves presents at next week’s LOCA Art Talk on his work in Utah and Africa
Graves grew up in Orange County’s 1970s surf culture, but he felt more comfortable photographing the surfers than joining them. When he discovered a camera lying on the sand in high school, he never looked back. After graduating from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and marrying his passion for speed with his eye for photography, Graves gained a coveted client list of car manufacturers including Porsche, Jaguar, Cadillac, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Mazda and Subaru. In 1999, when Mazda’s creative director challenged Graves to show him “something never seen before,” DistaVision was born.
In brief, the process works like this: Graves attaches a special filter to his lens that allows only a narrow slit of vision into the camera. He runs a continuous roll of uninterrupted film (66 inches in length) backwards through the camera. By calculating the speed of his subjects (whether they’re 200/mph racing NASCARs or 2/mph lumbering elephants), Graves moves the film through the camera at an identical rate. He also calculates the distance his subjects are from his lens, so he knows where to focus. Objects closer or farther from the focal point will distort in interesting ways, blurring or curving depending on the distance and speed of the film.
“What you’re really seeing is time passing in one place because the camera is stationary, looking at the same place, as the subject moves through it,” Graves said. (It helps that his father was an engineer and coached Graves on creating an elaborate spreadsheet to make these complicated calculations.)
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Rick Graves developed DistaVision in response to a challenge from a client to invent something “never seen before”
How did this innovation work out for Mazda? The creative director brought a line of vehicles to Mile Square Park where they found a runway no longer in service. Nine drivers drove nine Mazdas through the frame and Graves captured their motion in a single image.
Graves’ Hasselblad camera, customized with state-of-the-art robotics motors and an ultra-lightweight frame, can track objects moving as fast as 200 mph (just over one second of filming). His longest exposures – for slow-moving objects or things very far away – can take up to 15 minutes.
Once he proved it possible, the sky became the limit (literally) for what Graves could shoot. He documented the long sweep of crashing waves during 2014’s Hurricane Marie at the Wedge. He captured Lance Armstrong’s iconic 2004 Tour de France victory. Clients challenged him with complex shoots, and Graves challenged himself. The result is a collection of both fine art and commercial images that have earned him a long list of accolades, a distinguished clientele and 17 years exhibiting at the Festival of Arts. His work gained the attention of Wired Magazine and AutoWeek, and led to a book on the slit-scan photography process.
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Graves applies his technique annually at the Pageant of the Masters, capturing not only the Irvine Bowl, but costumed volunteers in conga lines
Graves has traveled to Africa twice, trying to capture a herd of elephants as they make their way past his lodge. So far, he’s miscalculated their speed (something he can’t discover until he’s back home and develops the film). He’ll make a third attempt this year, now knowing the giants walk slower than you’d imagine.
But he’s managed some incredible zebra shots. “We set up in a Land Cruiser with our guide, and backed into a spot where the zebras would walk by. They would look at us and say, ‘No. We’re not going by.’ They’d go into the bush and come back out past us. Finally, I asked the guide to walk into the bush and [guide them] down towards me. That’s the way we got the shot,” he said.
The stakes for these photoshoots are higher because this type of film is no longer made. Graves collects it where he can from eBay and stores it in a freezer. He’s saved roughly 1,000 rolls, but the supply is finite, and his shots need to be carefully planned.
For mathematicians and physicists, Graves’ process is brain candy. “It’s fun to explain this process at the Festival. I have great conversations with math and science people because they understand exactly what’s going on. Then there are people who say, ‘Oh, my phone does that.’”
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Graves poses with one of his more complicated shots of a diver hitting the water
In part, they’re not entirely wrong. Graves also does panoramic photoshoots where he’s the one moving (in a car or on a dolly) while the world remains still. He times the film to move through his camera at the same rate as his vehicle. That’s how he gets those unique city shots of the Vegas strip, the NYC skyline and Central Park. These photoshoots became easier during the height of the pandemic, when city streets were empty and he could capture a few uninterrupted city blocks free of traffic lights.
Step behind Graves’ lens, get up close and personal with DistaVision, and hear the moving stories of his time communing with wildlife in Utah and Africa. The event takes place on Thursday, Feb. 20, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the LCAD Gallery located at 374 Ocean Ave.
As a bonus, everyone attending will receive a post-event certificate for 15% off food at nearby Lumberyard restaurant. The event is free to LOCA Members, and $20 for non-members. Advance registration is required. Members should email loca@locaarts.org. Non-members should register here.
