Clouds and Double Exposures

Art is a means of experimentation.​ Experimentation is a means of thinking. Thinking is a means of art. Art is a means of photography... for me. I don't think that makes sense, but I'm sticking with that sentence. 

This past weekend I visited my parents, which I realize I do more then other adults my age. It's a nice reason to get out of the city, to leave my troubles behind so to speak. ANYWAY, the sky in New Jersey is a lot different then the sky in Brooklyn. The clouds are heavier.... you can actually see it (which helps a lot) since there are fields. The country (term used lightly... it is Jersey after all) to me is a weird place. I mean, I grew up there, but it is so foreign. I don't feel like I belong there. The place I used to call home is now a holding place, I go there and look at the relic of my room, touch "my" things that weren't important enough to make my move to Brooklyn with me, know that they once held meaning to me, and look at them like how I look at photographs of my relatives before I was born. I know their faces but can't pinpoint something about them. ANYWAY, so, I was there this past weekend, and I did some photography. For a while I've been toiling with double exposures with the Polaroid 220. Below is my favorite one, and a few others that I loved from the weekend.

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Combing projects

​​For the last six months I've been working on and off on a very broad "surreal" project that I've broken up into landscapes (Surreal Landscaping) and self portraits (The Manipulated Self). In the past month I picked up my grandfathers old polaroid 220 camera and have been shooting nonstop with it... which is awesome... but has put a really important personal project on hold in a way. SO! Last night, I had a stroke of genius... combination. I have more then I'm willing to admit of polaroids that didn't come out all the well that were just sitting in my room. Soooo... the below happened!

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Polaroid 220

This past weekend I came across an old polaroid camera at my parents house that belonged to my Grandfather and Grandmother from the early 70s right before my grandmother passed away. In the camera case I found photos of my parents from the time they were dating and a few portraits that my grandfather took of my grandmother. My grandfather is the type of person that keeps to himself, doesn't talk much about his feelings, but through the simple images of his wife, you could see the love he had for her. You could see how he was trying to hold on to her even for the fleeting moment that a photograph can hold on.​

It so happened that my coworker C.Bay Milan (cbaymilin.com) also had the same type of camera and was able to get it to work. So I bought a new battery and some film.... what do ya know... the thing still works. Film is such a beautiful medium that I don't work with much anymore. Any moment I get to actually shoot with film I take. Below is a picture that Bay took of me while we were testing the camera out!​

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Website redesign is LIVE!

Well if you're seeing this here and now you must know that the website is live! And I am so excited and proud of how it looks! I used squarespace through the whole process and on the whole, it was a great experience. ​

http://www.jessdavisphoto.com