What is Multiple Exposure?

Multiple Exposure is a photographic technique that combines two or more separate images into a single frame using only a camera, creating a surreal or dream-like effect.

Origins can be traced back to the early days of film, where it emerged as a result of unintended camera mishaps. Later the effect would be harnessed, blossoming into an expressive art form to enhance scenes, such as a man appearing to float in the sky or a woman playing cards against herself.

For a modern DSLR camera this means using settings to expose the sensor to light multiple times, a sensor is the modern-day equivalent of film. During the process the images can’t be seen, much like a film camera, I use my mind’s eye to track what I’ve captured and visualise where to place my next frame. When two or more images are taken the photo is revealed.

Many factors influence the success of a photograph, from light contrast and exposure to the interaction of elements and even colour. Layering has a whimsical effect on colour much like painting, as colours overlap, they blend and give life to beautiful variations of a natural pallet. For this reason, the ‘unnaturalness’ of colours within my prints aren’t edited into existence, they’re ‘mixed’. 

With these factors in mind we can accept that each print is impossible to recreate, even if it was attempted only moments later. This is because elements such as wind and light can never, and will never, be the same again. To me, there’s something so incredibly special about that level of singularity.