Resilience: The Land and Urban Spaces

Layered with urban and developed spaces, the land pushes through each frame, reclaiming it’s place — a reminder of what was before, and will be again. Captured on film, this series of double exposures speaks to the resilience and power of the land, and the importance of nature in urban spaces.

About the series:
Double exposures, shot in camera (no digital editing) are some of my favourites — even when planned / shot intentionally, they’re still up to chance. And the best ones are usually happy accidents!

The first exposures of flora were taken in urban gardens — wild fields, urban gardens and landscaping in public spaces. I shot a number of these rolls in 35mm and 120 medium format. Two years later, I reloaded the film and photographed local places and urban spaces, and in some cases the same wild fields grown full again with grasses and wild flowers.

I never thought to try and line up the frames, preferring the absolute chance of each shot — like scattering seeds and not knowing which would take root — and photographed two frames of the same subject, in case one didn’t work out. What I loved the most when I saw how the photographs turned out was the overlapping frames and resulting narrative of location, with nature pushing through each frame, reclaiming it’s place. 

Film and Camera details:
These double exposures were captured with my Belair X 6-12 Jetsetter camera (it shoots two frames per image) on 120 medium format film, so the results are wonderfully panoramic. The film was Kodak Portra 400.

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A bit more on the 1st image shown below, ‘Cypress Mountain | Echos in the View’:
The grasses and wildflowers grew in two beautiful wild fields in North Vancouver, down near the water. The two fields have since been flattened for development. I loved walking past the fields on my lunch or evening walks, and photographing the flora with my sweetie on the weekends. It was such a devastating loss — beautiful wild fields in urban areas are so rare, but bring so much joy and pleasure. Plus they were home to ground nesting birds, bees and other wildlife – as well as a huge old tree home to eagles. It’s all gone now … as well as the water-front access it granted the public. I’m glad I captured the fields and flora on film and intend to expand this series.