My latest Flickr album puts forth a small group of multiple exposure photographs from the Farm Security Administration (FSA) Collection. To create a double or multiple exposure, a photographer using an analog camera shoots an initial exposure and then, either on purpose or by accident, continues shooting further exposures on the same frame or sheet of film. The result is a single image comprised of multiple shots.
I’d like to show you some more double exposures from the non-FSA holdings of the Prints & Photographs Division.
In chronological order, we’ll start with this very well-composed by happenstance double exposure that is a part of the Detroit Publishing Company Collection:
H.G. Wells is the subject of this accidental double portrait from the National Photo Company Collection:
Frances Benjamin Johnston took this combination interior-exterior photo in 1935 for the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South:
The Niagara Falls Public Library was captured twice on one slide by the architect Paul Rudolph:
Learn More:
- Browse the Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
- See what the National Photo Company Collection has to offer.
- Look through Frances Benjamin Johnston’s Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South.
Comments (2)
Hi, Jan.
There’s an F Holland Day double exposure (possibly of his mother in Maine). Just an FYI for the next time😘
These definitely make you look twice! It’s tempting to try to find a meaningful connection between the overlapping photos. I’m having trouble choosing my favorite in the Flickr album, but I like to imagine this one as capturing the many interactions the young woman at the desk engaged in during the day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/53027953869/in/album-72177720309589802/
Thanks for pointing these out!