Being No One, Going Nowhere
2023
This project is made up of a book of negatives and a book of prints. The book of negatives is made up of many medium format (6x7) black and white negatives which have been adhered onto a thick paper. Each of these paper-backed negatives has then been glued and stapled together to form a small book. The book of prints contains scans of both 120 film (6x7) and 135 film that have been printed onto a matte photo paper. The paper was bound together with PVA glue and a French stitch. This text block was then used to create a hardcover photobook displaying the prints. This project roughly acts as both a documentation of the town of Owego, NY (in which all the photographs were taken) and a study of experiments with double exposure, flash photography, film photography.
All the double exposures were created by running a roll of 135 film through a camera by using it as intended – taking pictures, properly exposed, of whatever I found interesting. Once the film was completed, I would rewind the film and load it into a camera again, doing the same as before. Doing this allowed for double exposures that were a surprise to me.
My intention for the double exposures, and the whole project, was to create both ambiguity and familiarity within the image. A sense of confusion and understanding. A feeling of uneasiness at some points. If I were to revisit this project I would work with more experimentation. It would be interesting to see what an entire book of double exposures would look like; how that would make the viewer feel.