About this blog title

I cannot tell you how many times I have shown up at events with a couple of cameras around my neck, a gadget bag full of odds & ends and a lighting kit and have been asked that question. If it happened once every few years, that would be one thing. But it happens a LOT. It's like getting pulled over by the police and he's standing there with uniform, gun, flashing lights and asking him "Are you a cop?" I would love to come back with a witty reply, such as "No, I am Jesus. Don't you recognize my beard?" However, I cannot be that rude.


Monday, September 20, 2010

Day 202: Multiple Exposures


Sunny and 50 degrees here in Chaumont, NY.
I have always been intrigued by multiple exposures. When I was a kid nobody had professional cameras and it was easy for people to accidentally make a multiple exposure. And of course they would be upset because a picture of their kid sitting on Santa's lap would be accidentally exposed over a picture of the kid with the Easter Bunny. Two precious moments taken months apart, ruined. Well, after seeing an accidental multiple exposure for the first time I was captivated. The strange, dreamy, fading in and out of two images on one piece of film. I loved it. So, I remember on some very few occasions when I could take some photos with my Dad's camera, I deliberately made double exposures. Of course he would see the results when the pictures came back and that would make him less likely to let me use the camera. I was wasting film.


Finally a day came when I got a good 35mm camera, an slr. It was a Minolta SRT-101. Great camera, but no way to make multiple exposures. Well, turns out there was a way, but not sanctioned by the camera makers. If you pushed in the clutch button on the bottom of the camera and held the film rewind lever stationary you could cock the shutter without advancing the film. This method was less than ideal. It required some dexterity and care to pull it off. Usually the two exposures would be off register by varying degrees. Eventually camera makers realized that some people wanted to make multiple exposures deliberately. So they incorporated that ability into their products. I only just recently realized that the camera I am using for most of my work, a digital Nikon D300 has the ability to make multiple exposures. Great! Now I can experiment and see the results immediately. The two photo presented here each consist of six exposures. I don't know that they are terrific pictures, but I am happy with these preliminary results.

Need a wedding photographer in the 13601 zip code area? Call me, Gary Walts 315-649-4174. Check out my wedding photography album on FaceBook at

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Please leav comments and suggestions about this blog and how I maght improve it. Thanks, Gary Walts