On a trip to San Francisco, I ran out of film. I decided I would just wind it back to the beginning and shoot over the whole roll again. The images that came out of that first experiment inspired the idea for "City: Exposed". I would capture at least one city from every state int he United States using multiple exposure techniques. As the years have progressed my vision of the project has grown with me as I developed what I call long form multiple exposure. It is more than just one layer juxtaposed with another; it is a journalistic collage of a sense of place.
My goal has been to use this photographic technique to capture the feeling of a memory, of a place less pristine than our high resolution world, layering a cities secrets to forge a mental postcard. Eventhough I am inciting chaos with so much going on at once, my goal is to create a harmonious composition that moves. I want to take the viewer on my journey. The multiple stimulations of different details emerging and revealing themselves hidden in the shadow of a buildings façade or an old rusty sign by the side of the road, changes the final picture over time, like a memory bringing my work into its own dimension: a photo as a live experience.
Each cityscape is layered on film (in the shooting phase) with no digital manipulation. I use a Canon AE-1 and 35 mm film. Many different lenses are interchanged (wide angle, 50mm and a several zoom lenses) in creating each image as there are anywhere from 2-10+ shots in one composition. I also consider the different color-casts or saturation values in choosing what film I shoot with to coincide with what I perceive to be the hue of the city.
