Nature double exposed for a new perspective. Using the Argus C3 Matchmatic, I'm experimenting with nature using double or triple exposures onto one frame. After I develop the images with Cinestill, I scan them in with an Epson V600. The frames are muted and the colors are dull. Using Photoshop, I dodge and burn throughout the image and find the right color palette for the frame. When I first open a file I'm lost, but as I agitate the curves, my brain clicks with the image and I go for it. At the end, I am dumbfounded. Most frames take 30-50 minutes to edit.
I was in Colorado for the first time and the only thing I really saw were the clouds. I’m from Los Angeles, and we don't really get these shapes. All I can think about was how I can capture it. But I wasn’t attracted to it’s natural existence. It’s easy to take a nice picture of beautiful clouds. I wanted to push the boundaries as I push photography and everything else that comes with it. I captured the clouds and I wondered of it’s possibilities throughout the whole trip. When I took the film out of the canister, I had no idea what to expect. There were days where it was sunny and the clouds were just perfect marshmallows, then there were foggy days where those clouds hid the beauty of the mountains and the scenery. All the images are double/triple exposed in camera. This series pushed my abilities in photoshop as well. I continued to dodge and burn the images and even burning the areas I dodged. Dodging highlights and burning the shadows, I kept agitating the curves to see where and what each point was doing to the image. As I continue to work on the image, I can gradually see where my limit is. Some images have more contrast than others, some have more color, some have more saturation. It really all depends on what I think the image is capable of. Every single process is taken into consideration on photoshop. Some images have developing flaws creating a new color tone, some have more dust than others making it more magical, I’m accepting all of it's flaws and taking advantage of it. Photoshop gives me the opportunity to vigorously push the ability of the image and helps me define and produce the coloring of the final frame. Many times, I am dumbfounded by the possibilities of the image. I let myself go with this project creating dust on purpose, I even dropped my camera and burned the film, and sometimes I use the paint brush on photoshop. There are many don'ts in my process, but if that mattered to me, these images wouldn't exist.