double exposure project: two cameras, two continents, two views of the world, one roll of film

i am ashamed to say that back in 2011, the wonderful marinik and i exchanged a roll of film. i'm ashamed to say it because although i put it in my camera almost upon receipt of it, i didn't develop it until a couple of weeks ago when i was in new york. life intervened, film developing places became scarce and untrustworthy and so i sat on that film for ages. ages developed into years. i think 4 of them, to be exact. but oh my, was it worth the wait. there is a special kind of serendipitous magic that happens in these double exposure projects. you load the film into your camera, having no idea what has already been done with that film. and while not every photo is magical, some of them are. and it makes you want to do it again.

so if any of you would like to exchange a roll of 35mm film that you've sent through your camera with me (be careful when you rewind, because i'll need that tail to be exposed so i can put it through my camera too), just let me know in the comments. we're going to do this again. this is the kind of magic we need in our lives. and by we i mean me. but i also mean you. let's co-create something, baby.

intersections 4: magic on film

you may have noticed that i am quite an immediate sort of person. the photos i use here are usually taken on the day i post them (tho' my clarity birds from a couple of days ago were taken last summer).  i have a bad habit of not really looking back, even in my iPhoto. which means that i completely forgot that i hadn't shared all of the wonderful photos from the second roll of the film swap with shokoofeh. so here are some more for you here on the cusp of the weekend.

i think i'll just let them speak for themselves.

happy weekend, one and all.

intersections 3: everyday life and light

scenes of everyday life in two countries. cultures separated by miles and climate and even religion (tho' religion is absent here, unless it's a general worship of light). but the photos are full of serendipities and in their everyday subject matter seem to layer a sense of quiet peacefulness on one another. one wishes the geopolitical scene would learn from this...

these are from the second roll of film swap photos that shokoofeh and i took in the late summer and autumn. my camera shop nearly lost this film forever, as it got separated from the rest of my order. the tears pooling in my eyes made the disorganized owner look through his drawer an extra time. he finally found it, labeled with the wrong name, after i mentioned that it was double exposures. i will not be going back to vefa foto on kirkegade in vejle, i can tell you that. both because of that and because he charged me 30 kroner extra per film in comparison to what was written on the packet. i guess that was my special "tax" for speaking danish with a foreign accent.

but back to these photos...they were worth the wait, the extra money and the almost tears. i think this roll is even better than the first one. more on shokoofeh's photostream and her blog. and as shokoofeh mentioned there, if you blog about these photos on your own blog (which is fine with us), do let us know, as there just might be something special in it for you.  thus far, the ones we know about:

eating a tangerine

wayside violet

do let us know if you've blogged it too!

experiments in film

the year is winding down on my 365 photo-a-day project. i'm sure now that i will make it. but my thoughts now are turning to what to do photographically in 2011. i was in awe of kristina's fearlessness - walking around berlin with just a single film camera on her person. trusting her abilities that much. i want to do that more often in the coming year. i did it one day this past week. i took only film shots, not even a single iPhone photo as a backup. but i'll admit it makes me very nervous. the instant gratification of digital is reassuring - i know immediately whether i got the shot or if i need to take another (or twelve).

i have done some photo experiments already this year...here are a few of a roll of intentional double exposures i shot last summer (finally got them developed and scanned...that's a drawback of film, i tend to let them luxuriate on my desk until they are a shocking pile).  this was a roll of fuji sensia 200 slide film that i sent through my old canon (yes, a canon!) AE-1 program twice - once here at home in denmark and once at my childhood home in south dakota.  then i had it cross-processed in the C41 chemicals (hence the red tones).

a happy accident - double-exposed, cross-processed and half frame all in one.
that's the corn palace in mitchell, SD on the left

rosemary and the corn palace

missouri river bokeh

the bench by our lake + a beautiful old SD windmill in half frame.

quite possibly proof that husband's home planet does try to contact him.

i did a lot of scanning today, so there will be more film to come as the week goes on...

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things i'm enjoying...char's grateful series and poet's wardrobe refashions on seamstress stories.

double exposure

in many ways, it's my friend mik's fault that i'm as enchanted with photography as i am. he taught me to do jump shots and he taught me about lomo and he made me realize i needed a DSLR. he's a graphic designer and flash developer and truly one of the most talented, coolest people i know. if you want to know what the next big trend is, you've just got to ask mik what he's into at the moment, because he's at the leading edge.

so when he recently put these amazing pictures on facebook and called them a "happy accident," i asked him if i could share them with you here.  it's a roll of film that he took on a recent visit to japan and then accidentally double exposed on one of his frequent outings to the fabulous philippine beach paradise that is boracay. and i think they're some of the best photos i've seen in ages. and they make me really excited about my coming film swap photos with shookofeh and kristina.

this is my favorite one

scenic overlook

the beach meets mt. fuji

just a hint of mik there on the right.

so haunting

double exposure, accidental or not, gives such possibilities - the philippines vs. japan, city vs. beach, sand vs. mountains - it all speaks of something deeper and more profound than a single exposure can do on its own. it was a happy accident indeed, but i wonder if intentionality would have added anything in this case.  that's the question i'm pondering....but i suspect the art is in the accident.

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check mik's tumblr here. and more from this roll here on flickr. and thank you, mik, for letting me share your gorgeous, multi-layered, deep and profound (even if accidental) photos here...you should seriously have these up in a gallery.