One Perfect Moment {Double Exposure} | Life
One Perfect Moment is all about those moments, big or small, that make you wish they'd last forever. Those moments you want to stop in time, when everything feels perfect, even for just a split-second. Snapshots of the mind. Moments to treasure forever.
One of the subjects we've been doing this term at Tafe is Trends & Digital Art. We've spent the weeks looking at & researching different styles and trends in photography. We've then tried to recreate our own version in camera, in studio or in photoshop. So it's only fitting that our first assessment for the subject is to research & recreate two different styles of portrait photography from the 20th & 21st centuries.
Which is how I found myself sitting on my bed on Wednesday night, laptop perched on my knees, researching double exposure photography. A double exposure started in film photography, where the same frame of the film would be exposed to light twice, creating an overlay of two images. I'm sure most of us remember getting the odd roll of film back with a double exposure thanks to the camera not winding on properly.
Most double exposure photography these days is created using Photoshop. There are heaps of tutorials, and if you do a google image search you'll see hundreds of examples of it. What I wanted to do though was IN CAMERA double exposure photography. I wanted to create that double exposed image within my camera, just like back in the days of film, not digitally in Photoshop.
And so it was, that I found this tutorial at the website of Dylan and Sarah, wedding photographers from the US. And through a miracle of luck, discovered that my camera is one of the two types of Canon EOS cameras that allow you to create a double exposure image in your camera!
So of course I then stayed up till 2am playing around with this new technique, and an idea for one of my portrait styles developed. Thankfully my teacher was more than happy for me to attempt my own double exposure portrait, and was surprise that I planned to do it in camera. It seems that double exposure photography via Photoshop is a pretty common thing, but not so common being created in camera in this digital age.
Once Friday rocked around I spent a bit of time in the studio photographing a couple of girls in my class for my base image. Once this was done I then headed outside to see what I could see, and find the perfect tree or landscape to use for my second exposure. I was only supposed to be out there for about 10 minutes as we didn't have much time left in class, but I got so caught up in the creating of my images that I ended up out there for about half an hour!
Since then I have done not much else but think about what would make a great double exposure. I've spent every day snapping picture after picture and the excitement to get back to the computer and see how they've turned out is just like the excitement of getting your photos back from the printer in the old film days.
My mind is filled with all sorts of ideas, and I'm positively sweating the double exposure creativity! After a full-on term I am really looking forward to 3 weeks of Tafe holidays, but only because it will allow me to experiment even more, and really get the creative juices flowing.
It feels so good to be using and exploring my creativity and having the chance to learn all of these amazing things at Tafe. I am so damn thankful that circumstances have allowed me to study for my Diploma, and I can honestly say, aside from having the kids and marrying Dave, it is hands down the best decision I have ever made. Photography as a career is not going to be easy but I really don't care, because when you're doing something you love, well, you know what they say!
I'm so grateful to have this chance to rediscover my creative side, a side that for quite a while before and after Punky was born was buried under the weight of financial and parental responsibility. Tafe has made me realise that I can harness my creativity wherever I am and that it doesn't have to be separate from financial and parental responsibilities.
Exploring my creativity and getting lost in a new technique really has provided me my perfect moments for the week.
Do you have a creative passion? How do you find time for creativity in between all your other responsibilities?
Linking up with One Mother Hen and The Multitasking Mummy
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