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Comment by bazzargh | Hacker News Reader

Slit scan photography has been used artistically before: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/25/belden-adams.php (the picture of the runner and the cyclist is nicely mindbending)

And pretty much everyone here would be familiar with a couple of artistic uses of slit-scan photography - the opening credits of Doctor Who ( http://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A907544 ) and the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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Is it possible the author hasn't seen a photo finish before? I was surprised he didn't mention races at all.

I hadn't, so it certainly is possible.

I thought that as well. I can't imagine anyone who reads athletics/cycling reports wouldn't have recognized those for what they were. He's not far wrong in the article, to be fair - just in suggesting that the artist invented the technique. But that suggests he did no research beyond a misleading gallery press release, since just googling the term brings up lots of interesting stuff.

I don't mean to denigrate the art though, because the pics are still striking and interesting.

Look at the photo from the article you linked... http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/25/direction%20of%20ti...

The caption says... "the biker and runner crossed the finish line moving in opposite directions"

Wow!

They crossed the finish line in the same direction: past to future.

Face first is what matters here.

Right!

I was also reminded of that weird final scene in the Animatrix short about the runner when he has some kind of warp spasm before transcending and waking from the Matrix. That just gave me a renewed appreciation of animation.

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