I started doing collage because I believe beyond that 36x24mm ( well in my case 18x24mm) isn’t the limit of the story or a particular moment. Bending lines, extending structure, compressing objects……. It really only takes curiosity to capture and reconstruct. This recreating reality as one sees fit business is almost addictive.

My earliest experiment of such a method was when I was on a safari trip. That dandy little Belomo Agat18k was merely a backup of a backup of a backup. I was only using it to snap 2 in 1 photo to capture stories. But in between waiting for the cheetah to wake up and those mighty herds of wildebeest crossing the river in Serengeti. I decided to just shoot ultrawide panoramic shots and that’s how I fell into the rabbit hole of film collage.

It really is amazing how one tiny camera could do so much, allowing me to shoot rapidly and without thinking. I am often curious about what the technician I send my films to would  think of these pictures  where everything is being cut up by the frames and images of the same object. there’s no secret skill for film collage you just shoot the object over and over until you feel like you have enough to reconstruct it on print and i kid you not ” I don’t have a plan nor i would know how the final image would turn out “.  

if you too would like to try this out. just find an object that interests you, stand still and just slowly capture the object bit by bit. start practicing with a 3-4 frame to begin with. You too can move mountains and bend metals on your own will.

Good luck and shoot happy 
Arthur

Instagram: @arthursoptic