ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the “convention” of the fraction-of-a-second view of photographic time, which is the product of a fraction-of-a-second exposure in a full field of space and time. This convention begins with the birth of the medium itself. But how did that convention evolve? How is it bound up in discussions of “truth” or “documentary veracity”? Are the views of time offered in such photographs as straightforward as they seem? To accomplish this, the chapter offers a case study of the stroboscopic work of Dr. Harold Edgerton, which exemplifies the “conquest” of a picosecond of “atomized” time. Even though it seems straightforward, Death of a Light Bulb (1936) represents complex, multifarious views of time. This chapter problematizes the simplicity of the “instantaneous”-time exposure, in order to reveal its complexity.
