Monochrome

Between Two Ferns


*Between Two Ferns*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Esther

One of the really fun parts of this project is how unpredictable the superimposition of the texture and the subject is. In this instance, the fact that the curve of the second fern aligned nearly perfectly with the curve of Esther’s head was entirely accidental… and utterly awesome. I am thinking of structuring the next shoots a little bit more with less variety in flora textures… and yet I wonder if I might not be losing some wonder in the process…

Leafy Full Frontal

*Leafy Full Frontal*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Romain

Even when you know what you’re aiming for, you’re sometimes surprised with the results. What was super lucky here was that the leaf texture was very dense. As a consequence, Romain’s naked body in the shadows ended up covered in leaves by the magic of double exposure. The great news is that I can therefore share a full frontal nudity shot on social media without fear of reprisal!

Green Messiah

*Green Messiah*
Fuji XT2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Ollie

One of my goals in doing this second run of flora double-exposures was to experiment with the impact of lighting. Since the flora texture will show up in the shadows but not so much in the highlights, I used lateral lighting for face and torso shots. This shot of Ollie gives me exactly what I was after : a recognizeable face, with clear eyes, and a busy back of the head. Because they are dark, Ollie’s hair and beard also capture the texture, giving him the perfect messianic look.

Zebra Woman

*Zebra Woman*
Fuji XT2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Sarah

The double exposure technique works with shadows. In the shadows, the second exposure shows up, in the light, a lot less so. When I did my initial session last summer, I was using natural light so my ability to generate shadows was limited. In the studio I had a lot more control and I wanted to do some silhouette shots. I really like how this one came out, with the tall leaves creating zebra like marks on Sarah’s back.

Conifer Back

*Conifer Back*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Esther

Last summer I did my first experiments with flora textures double-exposed to naked skin portraits. The results were very promising and the models really liked the results. As the photos circulated, a friend in Brussels suggested organising a second session. I wanted to do this in a studio to have a better ability to blow up the backgrounds. The scans have come in yesterday, and in the next few weeks I’ll be sharing the highlights from those sessions. Conifer leaves/needles I have noticed are hit and miss for these portraits : they are sometimes so busy that they eat up the features entirely. Thankfully here with Esther this didn’t happen, and delivered a pretty dramatic double exposure portrait thankfully lit up by her wonderful smile.

(Not) Looking Down

*(Not) Looking Down*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Lilly

I don’t have a huge amount of experience in model guidance, but I knew that I wanted some different attitudes from Lilly. And one of these was « snarky ». I think it was captured really well here and I like the contrast between the peaceful face and the snarky face.

Fond Memories

*Fond Memories*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Lilly

 So, again, all of these are accidental, not in the sense that I didn’t want to do double exposures but in the sense that I didn’t know which shot I had previously shot. Looking at this one suggested someone reminiscing to me.

One and a half faces


*One and a half faces*
Fuji XT3 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Lilly

I hadn’t thought too much ahead on my process for this session : the key aim was to test my lighting equipment. So I ran the double exposures the same way I do for my texture portraits: shoot an entire roll at -1IL, then shoot the entire roll again at nominal exposure. But looking at the pictures it’s clear that this type of double-exposure doesn’t lend itself too well to that process : I should have shot the two shots in a row on the same frame. Su the successful shots are happy accidents. Like this one.


Shyness

*Shyness*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : Lilly

There’s a high degree of unpredictability with double exposures in general, but with portrait double exposures as I do them, that’s magnified : orientation of the initial shot, framing, distance, focal length… So I knew the results would be hit and miss. But some of the hits are interesting in that they tell a story of sorts even though the shoot itself didn’t.

Duplication #1

*Duplication  #1*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+

This is a very experimental series. In order to bring my plant double exposures into the studio, I purchased a flash, and wanted to roadtest it before the big session I have planned in a couple of weeks. So I asked a friend to act as a model. The quick and dirty double exposure was double portraits. One was underexposed and the other was exposed properly. The results are undeniably bizarre, but I’ll share my favorite from the series this week.