Expired Rolls

My dreamlike form

Appeared to dreamlike beings

To show the dreamlike path

That leads to dreamlike enlightenment

Budda, Bhadrakalpa Sutra

Whenever I visit labs for film scans, I naturally head to the bin of expired rolls for the oldest “vintage” rolls I can find. As a visual artist, I enjoy playing, experimenting, and making messes. Sometimes, part of myself would delude me into thinking that photography is not a creative expression, but rather pure documentation of reality.

But what’s “real”? My perception of the world, of beauty, is merely my interpretation. Just as the text in the Bhadrakalpa Sutra suggests, our experiences are so dreamlike because the appearances are a product of many kinds of causes and conditions temporarily coming together.

Making photos with expired rolls is my engaged play with the Nowness - adding more unpredictable forces to play with the temporary appearances of things, and letting the dreamlike nature be even more dreamlike.

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