I started experimenting with multiple exposures in 2005. I began to have a growing interest in photography and optics. This project began with the idea of juxtaposing still lifes to the outside world. At the same time, living in Philadelphia, I began to realize that people hardly ever look up when outside. I decided to combine these two ideas into one image. Using a medium format camera, I exposed the film with images of the still lifes, and then exposed it a second time with images from outside. I was able to create single photographs with multiple images. While making these photographs I realized that it was a very spontaneous process that created a great deal of error and potential errors. Errors would come when frames from the different exposures would not align perfectly. I began to adapt to this style of image making which allowed for the idea of assembling large composites of whole rolls of film, or strips of negatives to make a single photograph.

The still lifes subject matter continued to be the mundane everyday objects that everyone has in their own home. Waking up in the morning, I would often just go to my kitchen and gather what I found interesting. I used spatial relationships, light, and form to make the seemingly uninteresting, interesting. Like Flemish and Dutch paintings of the 16 and 17th century, I chose a tabletop and neutral background to bring the viewer’s attention to the objects.

Also, I am juxtaposing the dreary and dirtiness of the city to the seemingly beautiful and organic nature of the still life. I hope to show the chaotic and monotonous feeling of a city through using everything from fire escapes to tree branches as the second exposure. These two exposures create a figure ground relationship that allows the viewer to interpret the photograph differently from far away than up-close. Ultimately, I am striving to not only use the still life as a means of self-portraiture, but also make the seemingly mundane and monotonous objects of everyday life interesting.