How far can you get in 2 seconds from a camera?
Among the ideas raised in our Monday meeting was , where a man sets the timer on his camera to two seconds - and then runs away.
Tracking him down proved easy - after all, his blog has a handy "contact me" link on it. Getting him to talk to iPM proved harder. My best efforts only resulted in a succession of polite refusals - although eventually the man behind the photos agreed to answer some questions by email.
So here are some of his photos, as well as his story in his own words...
My name is Gert R - I'd rather you didn't use my full name. I'm a 47 year old Dutchman, living in Rotterdam but working in Amsterdam. To pay the bills I work as a web developer, but I'm also an artist, making installations and sculptures.
I've been taking these photos for around 18 months now. I don't go out of my way to take a picture, so the vast majority of them are taken near my house or near my job. That is one of the things I like about them, I am photographing places I normally would not think about photographing. I do it mainly for my own amusement, and for some faraway friends.
I've now got around 70 pictures, taken at irregular intervals, when I feel like it and see an opportunity. Apart from falling once and hurting myself, they've all worked. Usually it is over before anyone notices, plus I tend to use quiet spots, because usually I am on my own and I have to leave my camera more or less unattended!
Normally I don't have a tripod handy, so I have to leave my camera balanced on something. This is the biggest factor in how far I get; the more unstable the camera is, the more carefully I have to press the button, and that tends to make for a slow start.
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