My husband Andrew has been selected for his third juried group show in the four months since he started submitting work to galleries.  This show is called In Your Dreams.  Andrew's photo, Above and Below, was one of 40 photos selected (out of around 1650 entries!) to be displayed in the gallery.

Three things about Andrew's photo make it very special to me:

1) It is an un-manipulated, in-camera double exposure.
2) One of the two exposures is a candid photo.
3) Each of the exposures required very different, manually input camera settings.

The magic of Andrew's shot is that he captured these two images — in sequence, in the moment — from scenes that were dynamic and fleeting.  And yet, none of this was as haphazard as you may think.  He knew exactly what kind of image and mood he wanted to create.

Capturing this confluence of elements  ... this exact way ... is both spontaneous and precise, combining otherwise unrelated scenes into a single composition with a logic, feeling, and atmosphere greater than the sum of its parts.  I feel like this is similar to the way our minds bring together disparate thoughts and images to form our dreams, making the photograph very well suited to the theme of the gallery's upcoming show.

When I can, I spend time with Andrew out in the world while he's taking photos.  Sometimes we take long walks through the city.  Sometimes we find a spot and let the city come to us.  At those times, I take a craft project to work on.  Just two days after he took Above and Below, he took this double exposure of me knitting with DPNs.  I love how I look like I'm speed knitting!