When photographer Christopher Dydyk arrived in San Francisco in 2012, the beauty of the city compelled him to shoot anything and everything. The serenity of the trees and buildings presented a sheer opposition against the bustling of the city's people -- and he had to capture it. Dydyk's initial approach of taking single snapshots lacked the totality of the scene's energy, however. He decided to re-visit double exposure, a technique he used often when he worked with film, but add a digital twist.
"Trees have always been my passion," Dydyk says. "So my first attempt was the Conservatory Palm. I decided to make the palm tree the center of the picture and walk around it."
Dydyk's vision is a work in progress that he calls "San Francisco Impressions". The series is not yet complete -- he takes his camera out with him every time he leaves home, he says.
Once Dydyk finds his subject he circles it. He places the tree or building in the same position for each frame, however, as he loops around the subject he is able to capture different angles. He includes the full scene and all of its energy in his final shot.
Dydyk takes these frames and digitally layers them. He takes eight to 20 frames -- and if he needs to -- he takes cut outs of people to make them sharpened or blurred. Dydyk says the total editing process takes up to 20 hours per image. Generally he sits on the image for a few weeks before he adds his final touch. The end result is a beautiful, unique vision of what we San Franciscans see every day. Dydyk has just found a way to make us appreciate each scene a little more.
Check out some of his photos bellow.
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