Flash Back of Panam City by Tanmoy Saha
Captured in the historic Panam City, Bangladesh, this image utilizes a deliberate zoom blur technique to bridge the gap between the present and the past. By manipulating the zoom lens during a long exposure, the photographer creates a dynamic sense of motion that draws the viewer deep into the narrow, ancient alleys. The architectural remnants lining the path appear to stretch and reach toward the observer, effectively visualizing the city's glorious history. This creative approach transforms a static landscape into an immersive experience, earning recognition for its evocative storytelling and technical ingenuity in the field of motion photography.
Tanmoy Saha
Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tanmoy Saha Turja is a dedicated photographer who began his creative journey in 2007. An Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering graduate, he balances his professional work in the audio-visual sector with a deep passion for portrait, landscape, and wildlife photography. Having honed his craft through foundational courses at the Dhaka University Photography Society and Pathshala, his work has been showcased at the National Art Gallery in Bangladesh. His artistic practice is defined by a commitment to technical exploration and a keen eye for the cultural narratives embedded within his home country.
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Expert Photography Reviews · 6
The Architecture of Memory
I remember walking through the old quarter of a city I hadn’t visited in a decade. The streets were narrower than I recalled, the stone walls worn smooth by the friction of a thousand passing lives.
Read the reflection →The Architecture of Memory
We often speak of history as if it were a solid thing, a stone wall we can touch or a book we can pull from a shelf. But memory is rarely so cooperative.
Read the reflection →Reviews & Comments
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Zooming during a long exposure is a parlor trick that usually leaves me cold. It’s a shortcut, a way to manufacture drama when the light isn’t doing the heavy lifting. Yet, looking at these crumbling facades in Panam City, I’m struck by a rare, uneasy stillness beneath the blur. It’s as if the photographer actually stood there, shivering in the humidity, waiting for the ghosts to align. It’s a decent gamble, and for once, it paid off.
Panam City doesn’t yield its secrets to the hurried. Here, Tanmoy has listened to the ghosts of brick and mortar, pulling the lens through a long, deliberate breath. It’s a dizzying, beautiful ache. I’ve stood in those narrow alleys, and the way the light stretches into the past makes my chest tighten with a sudden, sharp longing. He didn’t just capture a street; he caught the city exhaling its own long-forgotten history.
Most motion blur attempts are just messy distractions, but here, the zoom technique forces the crumbling brickwork of Panam City to physically reach for the viewer. It’s an aggressive, tactile choice that makes history feel claustrophobic rather than distant. I’ve seen thousands of architectural shots, yet this one actually makes me feel the weight of those walls closing in. It’s a rare, visceral piece that will still feel urgent when these ruins have long since vanished.
You’ve turned these crumbling walls into a ghost story. I’ve walked through Panam City, and it’s usually a quiet, heavy place. By blurring the zoom, you’ve captured that dizzying feeling of time slipping away. It’s not just a technical trick; it’s a heartbeat. I felt a sudden, sharp ache for the people who once lived behind those facades. You didn’t just photograph a building. You caught the way history refuses to stay still. That’s honest work.
Before the eye identifies the crumbling brick of Panam City, a sudden vertigo pulls at the gut. The zoom blur doesn’t just suggest motion; it forces a physiological recoil, a held-breath moment where the architecture seems to collapse inward. I’ve felt this exact disorientation in dreams, that frantic stretching of time. Returning to it a year later, the blur feels less like a technique and more like a ghost, haunting the space between then and now.
The zoom blur creates a radial collapse, forcing the eye toward a vanishing point that doesn’t quite resolve. It’s a violent distortion of the architectural frame. The vertical lines of Panam City lose their integrity, surrendered to the motion. While the technique threatens to dissolve the structure, the weight of the masonry holds. I’ve rarely seen such aggressive geometry survive a shutter speed this slow. It’s a precarious balance, but the architecture wins.
Take me back to time.
Nice
I have heard about this city from my friend.
Tanmoy, good shot, but may you explain your zoom in technique please?
Thanks for you interest on the technique behind my photograph. To apply this technique, firstly, a zoom lens is required, I have used Canon EF-S 15-85mm lens here. Secondly, need to select the subject, where nothing but that will be in focus. Need to zoom in at a certain level and focus the selected subject. Thirdly, while setting the exposure, need to set a low shutter speed. I chose 1/10 sec for this photograph. Finally, Need to zoom out while releasing the shutter.
Using a tripod can come up with better photograph while applying this technique.
I want to go to Panam City.
One of my favorite techniques of photography.
Love the effect, you know the technique well.
I always want to achieve this effect.
What a great photograph!