Sublime freeze-frame time lapse photography by Fong Qi Wei

What is a freeze-frame time lapse? Isn’t that an oxymoron, like ‘act natural’ or ‘appear invisible’ (or unfazed mother-in-law)? No. It’s the passage of time captured photographically in a collage-like layered landscape. Simple.

Singapore-based photographer Fong Qi Wei believes that time is a dimension (also the name of his latest series of photographs) that is extremely difficult to convey in still photography. I agree. Even a long-exposure photographs or series of photos can lose their stories without an accompanying text.

Qi Wei contracts that idea by shooting landscapes from a stationary position over a period of time and then slicing and collating the images to create a layered photograph. He shoots at sunset or sunrise so that he will get the widest variation of light. Here he is getting all Yoda on the topic:

‘The basic structure of a landscape is present in every piece. But each panel or concentric layer shows a different slice of time, which is related to the adjacent panel/layer. The transition from daytime to night is gradual and noticeable in every piece, but would not be something you expect to see in a still image.

Similarly, our experience of a scene is more than a snapshot. We often remember a sequence of events rather than a still frame full of details. In this series, I strive to capture both details and also a sequence of time in a single two-dimensional canvas. I hope it makes you pause and reconsider what you experience versus what you shoot with your next camera phone.’

Also, I think it’s testament to his creativity that if you say his name out loud it sounds like ‘Funky way.’ Well done parents.

Time is a Dimension by Fong Qi Wei