Making a Moment: Stephanie’s Masterful Multiple Exposure

In our article series, Making a Moment, we’re asking photographers to share one of their favorite photos that they’ve taken. We want to know the story behind the final image and everything that went into making it.

This time we welcome Stephanie (@S-JI) a Lomographer we have previously featured in a full length interview and whose incredible work combines technical skill and a sense of intuitive playfulness. Her captivating photography often takes the form of multiple exposures, in which she uses her family as subjects, in conjunction with the landscape that surrounds her home in the Swiss Alps.

The photograph she has chosen to tell us about today is another example of an expertly crafted double exposure. Let’s hear how it was created from Stephanie herself!

Stephanie: This is a double exposure taken at home – that is to say in my garden for the portrait and a few road laces above my chalet for the landscape. I chose it because it combines what I love: a loved one (my son for this shot), the fantastic environment in which I live, and everything merged into, I hope, a poetic result.

I used an all-manual, hyper-reliable and iconic camera, my favorite one, my Nikon F2. A Nikkor 50 mm/1.4 for the portrait and a Nikkor 80-200 mm/4.5 for the mountain. For the film, an Ilford FP4 plus was loaded in the camera.


For many of the shots taken on this roll, I decided to symbolize parts of the human body with elements of nature. In front of my house, I see a summit every day called "La Dent Blanche", the White Tooth, 4,358m. To play a little and achieve what I had in mind, I suggested to my son, who also has very beautiful white teeth, to smear them with melted dark chocolate. I was already thinking about what I wanted to superimpose on it and I didn't want to mess with the silver oxides on my film in this area. As if that were not enough, he stood under the large oak tree in our garden, so that the foliage cast targeted shadows on his face. (This is my only technical regret, perhaps the photo would have been even more readable if we could guess his face a little better...but oh well.)


I then had to tackle the Tooth, the giant granite one. I wanted it to be alone in the center of my second exposition, so as not to erase my child's face. I didn't want to use a filter, so I went up above my house where there is a thorn forest and equipped with my vintage Nikkor 80-200 mm, I looked for a break in the canopy from which to see the Tooth. The branches would act as a filter. 
I knew mentally where to center the mountain so that it coincided with my son's mouth, with the center of my viewfinder as my only reference point. It was the third photograph in my film, so I had to wait several weeks later to see if it all worked.

Another small detail: for several weeks I had been bothered by relationship problems with my boss at work. Just before taking a photo of the mountain, while I was in the fresh air of November observing the landscape very carefully to find the best viewpoint, I received a message from him. My boss regretted that our relationship had deteriorated and proposed a reconciliation. I was both liberated by this encouraging message and even more by the awareness of what I was doing at that precise moment – creating and being there, outside, carefully observing this incredible planet. Why are we creating unnecessary anxiety with things that don't deserve it, or that will work out in the end? Photography, for me, is about refocusing on the essential, something like finding my true place.

To see more of Stephanie's photography be sure to follow her at her LomoHome.

In this series of articles we're asking you to share the story behind your favorite photo. Interested in being featured? Email alex.gray@lomography.com with the subject line - Making a Moment.

written by alexgray on 2024-06-04 #places #making-a-moment #black-and-white #experimental #mx #multiple-exposure #community #double-exposure #making-a-moment Share Article