Last Updated on 08/25/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
All images by Christoffer Relander. Used with Creative Commons permission.
While double (and even multiple) exposure photography is a technique often left to the experimental world of analog photography, it’s still possible to play around with it using digital cameras. Finland-based fine art photographer Christoffer Relander gives us a glimpse of the creative possibilities offered by this technique through his stunning series of double-exposed portraits taken using a Nikon D700.
All the double and multiple exposure portraits by Christoffer are all made in-camera, something that used to be done only through film cameras or compositing using an image editing software. All he does in post-processing are contrast and tone adjustments. He employs the famous method of combining silhouettes and shadows with textures and patterns. The results are both reminiscent of analog double exposures and a testament to the surreal quality of the technique.
The technique proves perfect for Christoffer, who has found the surreal to be more mesmerizing despite the beauty of reality. With photography serving as a means of self-expression and a way to stimulate his imagination, multiple exposures serve as an effective tool to carry out his vision.
“With alternative and experimental camera techniques I am able to create artworks that otherwise only would be possible through painting or digital manipulation in an external software.”
Working with a digital camera may suggest that perfecting the technique to his liking came easily and effortlessly. However, it turns out that Christoffer also practiced double exposures with medium format film, as we learned in one of his earlier (and equally impressive) projects titled Jarred & Displaced. In this ongoing series, he reveals that he has been double exposing landscapes into mason jars to carry out his childhood dream of preserving his environments into a large personal collection.
Visit Christoffer Relander’s website and Behance portfolio to see more of his surreal photography.