When I was at the Experimental Photo Festival in Barcelona last summer, I participated in a group film swap: shoot a roll of your own and swap it for another’s roll. We all dropped our film into a bucket and randomly drew a roll to then shoot ourselves. This is the basic premise of shooting blind double exposures—shoot through a roll, then run it through your camera again and shoot anew, all without knowing exactly what you had shot on each frame. In this film swap, we were entirely blind to what the other photographer had photographed!

I received a roll of Kodak Gold 200 from Pablo Giori, who happened to label where he had shot his film—a desert called San Juan Ischigualasto in Argentina. I knew I wanted to shoot palm trees, so I brought the film with me to San Diego and did just that. And of course, I souped the roll, because why not?!

Once I developed and scanned the film, I realized something was amiss with the images. The first exposure, Pablo’s images, were barely visible through my second exposures. Some of it is likely due to the souping process, but it turns out I wasn’t thinking when I was shooting and ended up overexposing my images (which I tend to lean towards doing on purpose). Oops! That’s why my images dominate, though you can still see layers of the first exposures, which I feel add to the texture of the images. Combined with the film soup, I actually really like the subtlety that resulted.

This was my first film swap and I’d like to do more as a way to collaborate with other photographers. You each bring your own style and subjects to it, which can make for some pretty interesting and cool art. Plus, it’s fun embracing the unknown and the possibilities that creates.

For reference, I used my Pentax K1000 and souped the film in bath salts, ginger ale and champagne vinegar.

Barcelona holds special memories for me, as it was one of the destinations I visited when traveling in Europe for the first time over 10 years ago. It was a whirlwind two days of sightseeing, eating, drinking and dancing—a bit different than my visit in the summer of 2023 for the Experimental Photo Festival. But the similarity that still held true was photography: on my first visit, I was discovering my interest in photography; on my second, I was exploring ways to grow in my photography over a decade later. While the festival took up the majority of my time, I managed to squeeze in opportunities to see and photograph the city—especially the many palm trees and Gaudi’s famous masterpieces (sometimes, both together!). Of course, I decided to soup most of the rolls of film I shot. Here’s a look at Barcelona—in technicolor souped glory.

Oh, Ektar 100. you had me at your high saturation and vivid color from the very first roll I shot. Which also happened to be the first film stock I used when beginning my journey into film photography over 3 years ago. While many seem to prefer the less-saturated hues of Portra 400, I am all about your punchiness and the way you make colors pop. And boy, can you make golden hour shine. I like to drop you into my Olympus stylus epic and let the camera work your magic, preferring to instead focus on my subject and not my settings. the two of you pair so well together! I just wish you weren’t so hard (and expensive) to find right now. So I’m saving you for a couple of upcoming trips this fall and winter where I know the locations will do you justice. Until we meet again, I’ll savor all the many favorite photos you’ve helped me capture.

We weren’t intending on spending a March weekend in Washington, DC, but the weather had other plans. We were en route to New York City when we were diverted to Baltimore because of heavy fog delaying our ability to land. My mother-in-law lives in DC, so we decided that we’d head over and visit with her and try NYC again in the morning.

One long day at the airport later, after numerous delays and ultimately a cancelled flight, New York just wasn’t in the cards for us. But we weren’t able to fly home until Sunday, so a weekend in DC it was!

Cherry Blossoms No. 2

Our unexpected stay ended up being worth it—we got to see the cherry trees in full, glorious bloom.

Of course, I couldn’t just take “normal” photos of the blossoms.

I had to experiment with one of my favorite techniques—film soup!

What resulted were these colorful, unique perspectives of the infamous flowers.

One of the many reasons why I love film soup—reimagining scenes, places and things and seeing them in a new way.

During our visit to Mexico City in February 2022, we rented an apartment in the neighborhood of Escandon, which lies just south of hip Condesa. Its proximity and short walking distance to areas like Condesa and Roma, while still remaining slightly outside the tourist sphere, was what drew us to stay here. I spent many mornings and afternoons just wandering around, and even though it’s not a large neighborhood, I kept finding things to discover. The main commercial street, Avenida Jose Marti, was always bustling and I enjoyed walking up and down watching locals go about their daily business. Escandon still retains its middle-class roots, though as in much of Mexico City, construction can be found all over. I found Escandon a charming, lively neighborhood. Here is a look at life along Jose Marti, captured on film.

Kodak ColorPlus 200

Expired Kodak Ultramax 800

Kodak ColorPlus 200

Kodak Ektar 100

Kodak ColorPlus 200

Kodak ColorPlus 200

Kodak Ultramax 800

Kodak Ultramax 400

Kodak Ultramax 400

Kodak ColorPlus 200

Kodak Ultramax 400