Resilience: Nature and Urban Spaces

This double-exposure series speaks to me of resilience, and the beauty and power of nature. Nature will reclaim what it can, growing through cracks in concrete and overtaking abandoned spaces. The layering of frames feels like a glimpse of what came before the urban spaces were developed — or what might come after. 

About the series:
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: Double Exposures, shot in camera (no digital editing), on Kodak Porta 400 with my Lomography Belair X 6-12 Jetsetter for the 120 medium format photos, and Leica R5 for the 35mm photos.