A Portrait of Jess: Tales of Mamiyas and Sugarcult
Sometime ago I found a box of negatives from an old Mamiya twin lens that slipped when the film advanced. I loved that camera; it made great double exposures, sometimes intentional, sometimes not. In the box was this image of Jess, taken around 2002, a double exposure and for some reason, I must have turned the camera on its side for one of the exposures. Can you see the close up of Jess’ face in the first image? Her head is turned and she looks straight at the camera, the small profile (in the image on the right) forms her left eye. The two images together create an optical illusion, like the vase/face test.
The image was made right after Jess discovered music shows on First Avenue in Seattle. She was constantly listening to music and would pose only if she could wear headphones. I am so glad she did. At the time we were watching a lot of old Star Trek shows hooked on them really and her kind of Borgian look must have been influenced by them. I made this diptych in Photoshop after scanning the negative. The diptych enables the viewer to see both pictures on the negative which pop and compete and then blend together. You could get the same effect with a single print, you would just have to rotate it. The intent is to make a really big darkroom diptych, maybe make it into a mandala. See it all four ways. Thanks Jess for posing! Wonder if you still listen to Sugarcult.
