Double Exposed

The days of the accidental double exposure are nearly over. Digital and self-winding cameras have made pretty sure of that. Once upon a time, though, you had to remember to wind the film, or exchange the large-format negative, and of course it's so awfully easy to forget to do that. The results, luckily, are often so awfully interesting. Ordinary photographs are turned surreal through superimposition. Figures become ghosts. Each exposure captures only the scene in front of it, yet the picture created is a scene that was never in front of anyone. 

Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Amadeo and Lucie de Souza Cardoso, 1915. Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane 

Double exposure with a 90 degree turn. Norway, ca. 1900-1910. Source

Library of Congress

An exterior and interior together, Virginia, 1935. Source

A vegetable cart with a background of trees and buildings at the same time, Virginia, 1900-1910. Source

Australian War Memorial

1939-1945. Source

Field Museum Library

Double exposure of a tropical landscape, Central America, 1899. Source

Library of Congress

Captain Templin M. Potts with Japanese Admiral Togo Heihachiro, New York, 1911. Source

San Diego Air and Space Museum

A trippy double exposure through a camera gun, ca. 1917. Source

Library of Congress

Bryce Canyon, Utah, ca. 1940- ca. 1950. Source

Library of Congress

A women's committee, with floating ghost chandeliers, 1920-1921. Source

Smithsonian Institution 

Artist Jan Matulka and his studio, ca. 1920 (this one is intentional, created after the fact--you can see the original portrait on its own--but looked too cool not to include). Source

Library of Congress

H. S. Wells, 1921. Source

Australian War Memorial

The humourous result of a double-exposed group portrait, WW2. Source