2026 –
Tea – Time
Tea – Time is a series of composite photographs made during tea rituals. Each image accumulates multiple frames from a single session into one, collapsing duration into a still layered surface. The repeated gestures of brewing dissolve the sequence of what comes before and after, composing time as a loop rather than a line.
Tea Composite 01
Tea Composite 02
Tea Composite 03
Tea Composite 04
Tea Composite 05
Process log
I've always found time difficult to inhabit. A tea ritual I encountered while traveling gave me a structure to hold onto, things to do and time to wait, that made duration legible. For the first time, I could feel time passing rather than watching it pass. I wanted to describe it visually, so I started filming myself brewing tea.
Session 01 | 3 mins | Oolong | Home
My first attempt used the camera's interval composite function, layering each frame directly in camera at one frame per second. There was something I liked about not being able to control the outcome as it built. But I noticed I was moving unnaturally, unconsciously matching my gestures to the shutter interval. The camera's rhythm was replacing my own.
I switched to continuous shooting instead. This way I could move freely, as if the camera wasn't there. The compositing happened afterward, which turned out to be a process worth going through. Looking at hundreds of frames from the same session, I was experiencing the time again, but now I could form it the way I remembered.
The shots blur into each other. The sequence disappears. It was like playing a puzzle. I worked through the entire session this way, composing twelve frames at a time to slowly recall the experience. From that, I selected the ones that best represent the session.