Roni Horn and Shutter Speed =)

Roni Horn and Shutter Speed 

What is shutter speed ?

The shutters within a camera prevent any outside light seeping through and exposing the film inside the camera to light. The shutters in the camera act like a dark room, or like a pinhole camera with much more detail and focus. Adjusting the shutter speed determines on whether the image being taken is crisp and clear or is blurred as if say the object itself in the photograph is moving. The fact is that the higher the shutter speed the crisper the outcome will be, the lower the shutter speed, the more the blurred the photography will be, due to 'shutter lag'.

Roni Horn uses shutter speed to her advantage and manipulates it in a way to create extraordinary and unusual photographs. It seems she used a high shutter speed with the image at the top of the page to create a crisp, clear and precise image of the water moving. Whereas the portrait above is distorted and blurry. Suggesting that the shutter speed was quite low, and possibly below 1/60 in order to make the picture blurry due to movement of the camera without the use of a steady surface or a tripod. Roni Horns main focus of work seems to be the manipulation of shutter speed, using different shutter speeds to create a range of photographs.
With Roni horns work I feel she juxtaposes and contradicts certain elements, for example the photograph above of the clown. When the word clown comes to mind, people immediately assume that clowns are happy, with big red smiles and funny make up, however from the photo above it looks like the clown above is in pain and is very unhappy, which isn't the usual stereotype thats associated with clowns. Unlike the very first photo that evokes a sense of serenity and tranquility, this photo evokes a sense of unease and makes me feel quite uncomfortable. I think that red is the only real colour Roni horn used to associate it with pain and anger and anguish, and with the use of a low shutter speed, it enhances this dreary feeling I get from her photograph.
I personally dislike her work, the uneasy feeling I get when looking at her work, doesn't sit with me too well, although I find what she done to be quite eye catching and clever, I don't particularly like her work.