Photo of the Week - February 10, 2015

Skateboarder at Jefferson Park 
on Beacon Hill
Seattle, WA

February 10, 2015
Multiple Exposure in-camera

It has been my opinion, as an artist and student of photography, that multiple exposure photography is gimmick in search of a reason. Overlapping images and double exposing to create art has seemed like a shortcut without intent. And then, I saw an article in the Seattle Times about Seattle's role as a global city. Photographer Marcus Yam  created a series of triple exposures, juxtaposing elements from Seattle's past, present and possible future. The intriguing photographs immediately excited my imagination; taken with a Canon digital slr camera, each triple exposure was taken over time, allowing the photographer to plan and design his images in a way that would be difficult to replicate with an old-fashioned double exposure. 

When I got my new Canon digital slr at New Years, I decided to play with the camera's multiple exposure feature. As with any technique, my first attempts were rough and reinforced my old ideas about multiples - phony and not terribly interesting. After those first rocky attempts, I decided to buckle down and understand the tool more fully. With practice, I am learning to create something which resembles art more than gimmick. 

The image above is somewhat planned, somewhat serendipitous. The Canon 7D Mark II allows the photographer to create an image combining only the dark parts of a scene. Since the bowl of the skate park was light in tone, I figured that most skaters would have darker clothing, skateboards and hair. The result 'should have been' multiples of a single skater against a light background. When the skater in the white shirt appeared, I knew I was in for trouble. Sure enough, his torso disappeared in every multiple. And, that was exactly the transcendent element I needed to move the image from shtick to photographic design. 

What a marvelous joy - to have a new tool for creativity at my disposal!