Photographer Accidentally Double-Exposes Wedding Photos With Pictures of Her Dog and Cat

Anyone who’s ever tried out film photography knows that it can be a minefield — easy to get wrong or receive unexpected results.

But some of those quirks turn out to be happy accidents. Like photographer Jewel Fiorillo, who this week took to Instagram to share photos from a roll of film that she accidentally double-exposed.

Double exposure in 35mm film photography occurs when two separate images are exposed onto the same frame of film, causing them to overlap in the final photograph.

Fiorillo accidentally double-exposed film that she used to shoot a wedding. However, she explains that it was not a serious wedding job; she wasn’t getting paid.

“The couple was allowing me to test a brand new camera that I’m learning new,” she explains.

“It’s about learning how to use the camera from scratch, so there are going to be mistakes, which is why I wanted to practice before using it in my everyday workflow.”

Fiorillo uses a Canon AE-1 1976 SLR camera; it’s a model that is easy to accidentally double-expose on.

That’s because the rewind button underneath the camera on the right-hand side — which is used to unload the film — can be accidentally pressed quite easily. So when the photographer turns the advance lever, unbeknownst to them, the film doesn’t actually wind onward.

Fiorillo explains that she is a self-taught photographer with no training or academic background in photography. Episodes like this one are all part of a film photographer’s training.

But the resulting photos are unquestionably funny and certainly amused Fiorillo’s Instagram followers, many of whom said they would pay extra for the effect.

“Why does it look like she’s marrying a man that secretly used to be a dog but was transformed into a human by a witch and he still has the soul of a dog inside him,” writes one person.

“I would pay extra for this tbh,” adds another. “I would genuinely be so excited about this,” says Mrs Gendered.

Double exposures aren’t just limited to film photography: many mirrorless systems have an in-camera feature allowing the photographer to expose multiple frames on the same file.

The technique can also be done in post-production. PetaPixel published a tutorial article on how to create stunning double exposure effects in Photoshop.

For more of Fiorillo’s wedding film adventures, check out her Instagram and website.

Image creditsPhotographs by Jewel Fiorillo