Adventures in Double Exposure

A few years ago, I wanted to finally try an experiment that I had been thinking about for years.

It was to shoot in double exposure, meaning to take two photographs on one piece of film negative to create two overlaid images.

I had tried it once before, using a Holga camera, by taking a picture, not advancing the the film, and then taking another pic, before moving on to the next portion of film.

The results were interesting but not particularly strong, as both of the overlaid images were taken at around the same time, so there was not much of a visual collision, as it were.

Much later, I learned about the technique of shooting an entire film, winding it almost all the way back, and then shooting the film again.

That, it was clear, would create all the visual collision I wanted, but the only question that remained was to decide which camera to use.

In the end, I went for my Olympus AF10 Super, an old point and shoot my sister won in a raffle in the 1990s and gave to me as a present.

I chose it because, once you have finished a film, it automatically winds it back, but not all way into the canister, allowing you to shoot over the film again, should you want to.

Keen to see the results, I took the camera with me on a work trip to Chicago, and wandered the streets and parks whenever I could, shooting as I went.

Then I reshot the film in Nice, France, taking shots beside the sea, with friends, at events, and I even took some shots in Cambridge, in the UK.

And here are eleven of the resulting pictures — I hope you like them!