stuck in my head
Argil T.
-
The subjects of this piece are two of my closest friends who have been in a relationship for 2+ years. Both have had an incredible impact on me, as an artist and individual. I wanted to create a piece that showed my gratitude for the support and inspiration they have provided me.
To make this piece, I first took a medium format film photo of my friend Travis at a garden near his home. Having taken multiple exposure photos in the past, I figured the scenery would compliment this double exposure. To isolate my subject’s face, I used the overcast sky as a background. I wanted it to appear as if he was a part of the environment, so I shot the second exposure from under a tree. Later, I was rehearsing a song with my friend Georgia. We had written this song together for a short film we shot over the summer. I decided to take her photo while she was playing her electric guitar. I used a 35mm film camera with a flash. After a couple of weeks, I was flipping through my binder of negatives when I came across the double exposure I had taken of Travis earlier. I thought to myself: “Why not make it a triple exposure?”. Carefully placing both negatives on top of one another, I stuck them together using masking tape. Since the sky in my double exposure was more of a light gray, I decided to use a contrast filter, not only to hide the tape, but also for the images to overlap more seamlessly. I decided not to cut the sides of the negative, using the film sprockets to represent both subjects’ creativity and love for film. After realizing that the leaves would be covered up by Travis’ shirt if I left the light on too long, I decided to use a piece of cardboard to dodge the bottom third of the image. As I saw the image slowly fade into just the right values in the developer, I knew I had pulled off my experiment. The final print was exactly what I had envisioned, with no digital manipulation necessary.
-
To me, creativity is the ability to express the aspects of myself and others that would otherwise be hidden. Having a creative outlet provides me with a sense of control and self expression, making it a necessary part of my day-to-day life.
