In-camera double exposure with my Fuji XT-1, my darling repeat client Jennifer Marley, and the orchids that I carefully escorted to the studio for the shot I dreamt up last night when I was trying to sleep. I’ve photographed Jennifer over the years celebrating other milestones of hers, and was so honored when she commissioned some maternity images from me as she awaits the birth of her little one.

Inspiration struck last night and I was furiously searching to see if the idea was unique (I don’t like setting out to do things that have been done to death, and sometimes my “genius ideas” turn out to be old news.) I couldn’t find anything like what I was envisioning, so I ran with it and I’m so happy this goddess-of-a-life-creator hung in there with me at the end of her shoot so I could try to turn the concept in my head into a finished product. It’s not at all how I envisioned it, but that’s fort of how inspiration and execution has always worked out for me.

For those unfamiliar with the process, double-exposures are created when two images are taken on top of each other as a single frame. This used to happen oftentimes by mistake on film, but eventually became its own art form.

The first shot was taken of Jennifer on a white seamless paper backdrop, underexposed to ensure she was the darkest part of the frame (paying extra close attention to the highlights and shadows is important when creating this kind of image), and the second image was taken of a single branch of orchids cascading down a black backdrop, arranged in a way that would flow with the silhouette of her body resulting in this single frame.

Camera: Fujifilm XT-1

Lens: 23mm f/2

Subject: Jennifer Marley

Processing: KMBW Preset, tweaked.