I started experimenting with camera/motion blur when I was living in Tokyo in the late ’90s. I used to take a lot of Polaroids, and I discovered that if I blacked out the flash so  it didn't work, the images became really dreamy and ethereal. It was during this period that I began moving the Polaroid camera around and discovered I could create really interesting compositions—both with people and with buildings, which was mostly what I was photographing. I then started using the same technique with my SLRs and later DSLRs and found I got even better results due to the sensor capabilities.

It may seem a little convoluted, but over the years of using this method I’ve learnt that there’s a real art to the way you move the camera to achieve the exact effect you’re after. It’s also a bit of trial and error, but the rewards are huge when you get it right.

These days there are all kinds of motion-blur apps you can just apply to your images, but it’s very obvious you’ve used them, so the photos all tend to look the same. If that’s your thing, that’s cool—but it’s not mine.

I firmly believe there’s a synergy between the photographer and the subject that happens during the movement of the camera while it’s capturing light on the sensor. My theory is that the motion of the camera, combined with the motion of the photons, captures something perhaps beyond the physical—maybe an essence of something that exists in the realm of the non-physical. For me it's a kind of alchemical process. I’ve found this is particularly true when photographing people and historical or sacred sites around the world.

Over the last three decades I’ve shot many thousands of these types of images and I particularly love shooting in this style in cities, as there’s so much history and energetic residue within a city. Here are a few from our recent trip to Bangkok, London, and Sardinia. I’ll keep changing them up as I shoot more, and also as I dig up old ones lying around on old hard drives. Enjoy!