My next upcoming new project will involve diptych…… This is where you build a story using two frames that are close to each other …they connect in some odd manner. I will be using my film Pen F from the early 1960’s. This half-frame camera essentially takes vertical frames using the camera upright, and fits two images onto one 35mm negative frame. There is a small line that separates the two images within that one frame.
The half-frame Pen F fits this mode of creativity well (Diptych). First, since each image is half the size of a regular 35mm negative, it becomes more difficult to enlarge any one image. Sure, I can crop each individually but am thinking I want to keep both images ‘side-by-side’ and present the two, as one.
This way, I have an immediate connection to a story…. Those two images connect. It might be of a person where one image is close up, while the other is afar….or can be of an image scene where I view from opposite sides etc. I know I have done that in multiple cases such as this one below.
These two images were shot in Melbourne, Australia using a Leica Model 2 with Fomapan 400 film. While not a half-frame, the same concept applies. These two images fit….they connect. They use one person candidly captured from two different angles in this case.
But the idea of a half frame camera and my Pen F….intrigues me. While I am in Australia now, my Pen F is back in the states, so…..will be a few weeks before I get a chance to play with this concept and approach it with images , side -by side….. Stay tuned.