Curiosity
By Heather Lang-Cassera
—in memory of Dawn
who showed us how to wear flowers
These photos were taken in July of 2020 with my Holga 120N—an inexpensive plastic camera—on medium format film. To create double exposures, I took two shots before manually advancing the film to the next frame. As always, I developed the film at home.
Art should invite its viewer into conversation, and whether the medium be literature, painting, or photography, I struggle when the work is too literal. If something is a facsimile of an object, person, or scene, I’d often rather meet or witness the original, if possible. Just as we cannot paraphrase the complexities of a good poem, particularly the facets which evoke authentic emotion, I long for a photograph to hold both literal and figurative offerings as well as both harmonies and contradictions.
Sometimes the term double exposure is defined merely as the superimposition of more than one image. The history of this technique, the film being twice exposed to light, is not always included. This morphing definition makes sense, I suppose, as folks can now achieve a similar effect through a digital camera’s multiple exposure mode, a graphics editor on a personal computer, or even a free app downloaded to a smartphone.
Double exposures, however, are a practice for which I believe something is lost when digitized. Some see contemporary lo-fi film photography, often called lomography, as a reaction to the predictability and precision of digital photography and computer editing. When I take photos with my plastic film camera, I cannot predict the outcome exactly. This is the long-accepted, and often beloved, nature of the Holga. The imperfections make these cameras unique, give them character, perhaps even a sense of what it means to be human. Similarly, unlike a double exposure produced in photo-editing software, the analog versions remind me of our authentic relationships with others, with ourselves, and with the world in which we live.
In 2020, a year that has highlighted our lack of control over even the best-made plans, I find companionship in the unforeseeable, and sometimes erratic, qualities of lomography, from light leaks to shutter flaws. I choose to embrace the chaos, including the insights I must hope it might bring, meanwhile fastening myself to the tangible aspects of our daily lives. Practicing film photography is one way that I stay anchored within my physical existence, live in the moment, as my hands load the spool, press the shutter release, and develop the film. Meanwhile, I find relief in embracing, with a reverent curiosity, the unconscious, the irrational, and the unexpected throughout our ever-fleeting days.
Heather Lang-Cassera is the Clark County Poet Laureate, the Editor-in-Chief of Tolsun Books, the World Literature Editor of The Literary Review, and a Lecturer at Nevada State College. Her poetry and her photography showcase evocative juxtapositions and are delicately laced with their narratives. Both have been featured by KNPR’s Desert Companion blog, the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, and Witness online, among many other publications and venues.
Thank you for visiting Humanities Heart to Heart, a program of Nevada Humanities. Any views or opinions represented in posts or content on the Humanities Heart to Heart webpage are personal and belong solely to the author or contributor and do not represent those of Nevada Humanities, its staff, or any donor, partner, or affiliated organization, unless explicitly stated. At no time are these posts understood to promote particular political, religious, or ideological points of view; advocate for a particular program or social or political action; or support specific public policies or legislation on behalf of Nevada Humanities, its staff, any donor, partner, or affiliated organization. Omissions, errors, or mistakes are entirely unintentional. Nevada Humanities makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on these posts or found by following any link embedded in these posts. Nevada Humanities reserves the right to alter, update, or remove content on the Humanities Heart to Heart webpage at any time.