by Editor Michel Romaggi in collaboration with the author Peter Fasnacht (peterfasnacht)
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 27^th of November 2024

'Here' using ICM by Peter Fasnacht

Dear Peter, I have chosen your picture " here " to illustrate your work.  Can you tell me the circumstances under which you took this photo?

I've been living in Shanghai for a few years now and one of my favourite things to do is to walk around the city with my camera. On the day I took this, I was on the Bund, a historic riverside area known for its stunning 19th-century architecture on one side, and the stark contrast of gleaming modern skyscrapers on the other. The Bund is a popular spot for tourists, making it a prime location for both people-watching and photography.
On this day, I had a neutral density filter on my lens as the sky was bright and sunny, and I was experimenting with longer exposure times. The Bund was crowded as usual, but I wandered around until I found a quieter spot. In a busy area, too many people in the frame during a long exposure would blur into a chaotic, indistinct mass - a visual 'muddy' effect I wanted to avoid. I eventually settled on a location with Shanghai's iconic skyline in the background, with people moving through the scene in all directions.
For this image, I wanted something more layered - an image that conveyed the transience of both the people and the buildings. In most of my ICM shots, I focus on the people against an undefined, abstract street background. But here I wanted both the towering skyscrapers and the people to merge, each fading into the other as they fade into a blur. For me, the image speaks to the transient nature of everything around us: in a hundred years, the buildings may still be there and some of the people may still be remembered, but in a thousand years, all of it - the people, the buildings, the city - will probably be gone. I wanted to capture that fleeting, impermanent moment when both the people and the city dissolve into nothingness.

Can you describe the various steps you take to achieve this result (equipment, adjustments, post-processing...)?

I shoot all my street photography with my trusty Fujifilm X-T4, often paired with the compact 23mm lens to keep a low profile. For this particular shot, I used my favourite walkaround lens, the Fujinon XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR, along with a Tiffen 8-stop variable ND filter. The settings for this shot were 26mm, f/16, ISO 200 and a 1 second exposure.
Given the bright sunlight, I knew that a longer exposure would blow out the image, even with the aperture set as low as f/16, so the ND filter was essential to maintain proper exposure. Although I could have lowered the ISO further, I kept it at 200 for a cleaner image with minimal noise.
Having found a good spot with a manageable number of people and the iconic skyscrapers in the background, I started shooting. I had a clear idea in mind: a 1-second exposure to create long, fluid traces of movement. The challenge was to find the right combination of direction and speed of movement to achieve the desired effect. With any luck, I had to time the people's positions perfectly for a strong composition. From this point I took about 25 shots, experimenting with different camera movements until I found the right rhythm. Once I had the right speed and direction of movement, I concentrated on capturing the right moment when the people were well positioned in the frame.
With a 1-second exposure, there was enough time to release the shutter, pause for a beat, and then move the camera up and to the left to get this shot. I was lucky to get the right combination: a mix of people standing still, walking towards me, and others moving from left to right. This variety of movement adds to the dynamic feel of the scene, while the camera movement adds an extra sense of movement.

'Raincoat'

While many of my ICM street photographs are taken closer to the subjects with varying degrees of movement, I deliberately chose a greater distance for this image. I wanted to include the buildings in the background, which are a key part of the composition, and to emphasise the physical - and metaphorical - distance between the people in the scene.
In terms of post-processing, my workflow is pretty straightforward. I shoot in RAW and then make adjustments in Lightroom. For this photo, I started by lowering the highlights and increasing the shadows to balance the light. I increased the contrast to give the image more punch and to deal with the dark areas I increased the white balance slightly. To make the subjects pop I increased the texture and clarity and finally increased the vibrancy to bring out the colours. Interestingly, this image also works beautifully in monochrome, so I've saved that version as well.
All my ICM shots are single exposures, processed similarly in Lightroom with adjustments tailored to the unique lighting and composition of each shot.

'Watch Street ICM'

Please tell us why you are interested in using ICM instead of classic photography ?

I've always admired photographers who can capture not only the "decisive moment" but also the underlying feeling of a scene. For me, it's about more than just the technical precision of a photograph - it's about evoking the emotion and essence of the moment.
Bruce Gilden once said, "If you can smell the street when you look at a photograph, it's a street photograph.” This quote has stayed with me and deeply influenced my own approach to street photography.
In Shanghai, I wanted to go beyond simply documenting the city's frenetic energy - I wanted to capture the complex, dual sensation of walking through its crowded streets. On the one hand, Shanghai is a city bursting with life: vibrant, dynamic, full of movement and sound. On the other hand, its sheer density creates a paradoxical sense of isolation. With so many people around, it is almost impossible to focus on any one individual; they blur together in a sea of colour and movement, making the city feel both overwhelmingly crowded and strangely impersonal. It's a sense of connection that exists alongside a deeper sense of separation.
Searching for a way to translate this into my street photography, I came across the technique of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). I decided to experiment with ICM, and what I found was an authentic way to capture the essence of Shanghai's streets - a representation that reflects what I actually experience when I walk through them. The images are not about sharp details or recognisable faces, but about shapes, colours and fleeting moments of light - distilled fragments of a sensory experience. 

'Walk'

What subjects do you think lend themselves best to this technique and why?

I believe that Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) can be applied to virtually any subject and I've seen it used beautifully in everything from landscapes and portraits to street scenes, flowers and other traditional genres. It's a powerful tool that can completely transform a photograph, so photographers need to be aware of how the technique changes the meaning or interpretation of the image. For example, a simple, colourful basket of flowers might make a lovely still life in a conventional photograph, but when ICM is applied it could become an abstract swirl of frenetic lines and colours. This shift may be exactly what the photographer intended, and it can still result in something beautiful.
When applying ICM to street photography, I focus on the "intentional" aspect of ICM. There's a fine line between a blurry snapshot and a thoughtfully composed ICM image. Personally, I admire when photographers use ICM (or any other technique) to add layers of meaning or tell a deeper story. When ICM enhances the narrative or brings a fresh perspective to a landscape, portrait, street scene or even something as simple as a basket of flowers, it can be a powerful and appropriate choice.

'West Lake Sunrise'

To conclude this interesting tutorial, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your photographic practice?

I learned the basics of photography in the 1990s, processing film in my basement darkroom, and rekindled my love for the practice of photography in 2018 while travelling abroad. I'm a 2023 graduate of the New York Institute of Photography and a 2024 Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) of the Professional Photographers of America. I was born and raised in New Jersey, USA and am lucky to have a job that allows me to travel regularly. Street photography is my favourite way to explore a city, study its people and bring home powerful memories of that time and place.  I discovered ICM photography in 2022 and have been incorporating the technique into my street photography on a regular basis to add new layers of interest and meaning to the images. 

'Shangai Samurai ICM'