Pantheon

Last May I visited Rome for the first time. Before going I began having ideas about places I wanted to photograph--including the Pantheon. Once there it is easy to see why the Pantheon gets lots of attention. It is a very imposing. But that's also part of the photographic problem: It's nearly impossible to take a shot that doesn't diminish it. And, since I planned to do the job with a toy camera, it seemed rather foolish to try for the grand shot. But then I noticed how the hole in the center of its dome directed light across a few columns.

This snapshot gives a sense of how that appeared.


And this awareness of what unique about that slice of time caused me to rethink the problem. By shooting a series of overlapping exposures with the Holga camera I could multiply the effect. Readers may already know that the Holga doesn't automatically stop when you wind film to the next frame. In fact it willingly lets the user shoot over a previous shot. Using this technique I was able to shoot a couple rolls this way. Of course it's nearly impossible to know whether any of it will be worthwhile until after the film is developed.

My version of the Pantheon will be displayed in Krappy Kamera XI at the Soho Photo Gallery in New York from March 3rd to April 4th 2009.