Double Portraits

I have been working with this series of portrait photographs on and off since 2009. The idea of combing two photographic portraits of the same person evolved from my work photographing actors' headshots.

As I worked on the images in Photoshop, I often found myself placing several photos side by side on the computer screen, comparing lighting, expression and subtle shifts in perspective. At the same time, while placing them in close proximity, I began to notice how a kind of dialogue developed between the images, with each affecting how its neighbour was viewed; sometimes enhancing a mood or a certain characteristic, with certain pairings beginning to act like a single work of art.

It was easy step to begin to cut and paste within Photoshop, to link up two images and print them as a single photograph, but more importantly, I began to photograph the models with the idea of a future combination in mind right from the beginning.

The photographic process has never been simple, however, since the dynamics of the live model in front of the camera created an image flow that was very hard to predict. Lucky accidents could sometimes shift the whole concept in a different direction. Clothing, the attitude of the model, changing from a sitting to a standing pose, could suddenly change my concept completely.

After having worked with dozens of models over the years and with several models more the once, I still find that the process is exciting and fresh each time I begin a session in the studio.

The photographs in this exhibition were selected from the thousands of images I have collected over the years, and printed at a scale that seems appropriate to the kinds of images involved. This series will also be mounted as a web-based exhibition as part of my personal website: http://doubleportraits.williampura.com/

For more information and works by
William Pura visit WilliamPura.com

Photographs from the gallery opening are available here.