I have never attempted double exposure photography.
I’ve always been interested in it, but have never experimented with it, mostly because I just don’t remember to. So much of what I photograph is documentary—my goals are to capture what’s in front of me in a way that embodies the spirit of what I feel when I look at the subject and to find composition that feels dynamic to the viewer. I make very few conceptual photographs and don’t really experiment with creative effects or techniques very often. So while I love other photographer’s double exposure work, it’s not usually top of mind for me.
I recently got back a roll of film containing about a dozen sort of on purpose/sort of accidental double exposures. I’d loaded a roll of Kentmere 400 into my Pentax K1000 and shot about a third of the roll, but had been having problems with the shutter sticking on that camera. A good portion of the frames I’d shot were going to be photos of nothing, as I continuously fired the shutter trying to get it to unstick. I didn’t load the film planning to make double exposures, but after it became clear my camera wasn’t going to cooperate, I decided to rewind the roll and reshoot it, knowing that a portion of the frames would come out double exposed.
I sat on the roll for a while before reloading it into a Minolta and taking it to the Dominion Energy Christmas Parade. I couldn’t remember what I’d shot on those first dozen frames or how many of them would be discernable images. Behind some of the closeup shots of parade floats, I could see a wall of picture frames from my living room, and remembered having the shutter issue while trying to photograph someone for my tattoo stories series.
The above images shows Courtney, the subject of my tattoo series shoot, as serene as a saint, centered and framed by the umbrellas of parade float riders, one of them waving to the crowd. The effect of the composition feels almost religious to me.
Some of the first round of images were taken on a hike at Crabtree Falls, Virginia. I only know this for sure from the “Danger” sign splashed across the belly of the parade dancer in the first photo of this post, warning hikers to avoid climbing on the waterfall rocks because of a clear algae that makes the rocks extremely slippery. Other shots dapple paraders in black and white foliage from the forest surrounding the falls.
I like that most of the first round of exposures aren’t super discernable images and add a haunting, supernatural feel to the parade photos. I want to shoot another roll of doubles and wait long enough between rounds to forget what I shot on the first, so that the end result feels unplanned. I don’t want the first image in mind when choosing its overlapping partner.
Thank you for reading, you’re beautiful.