So, these diptych and triptych things. I remember stumbling into them. Didn’t really get what the big deal was at first. Just thought, hey, you stick two pictures together, or three. Easy, right? That’s what I figured.
Well, let me tell you, my first few goes at it were pretty awful. I’d just grab a couple of photos that looked vaguely okay and slap them side-by-side. Most of the time, they looked like they were arguing with each other. Just a jumble. Total mess.
It took me a while to realize there’s a bit more to it. It’s not just about having two or three photos. They gotta talk to each other, you know? Like, have a similar vibe, or tell a tiny story, or show a progression of something. It’s about making them connect, not just occupy the same space.
My So-Called Process
My “process,” if you can even call it that, usually started with me digging through my massive, chaotic digital photo collection. You know how it is – thousands of pictures, most of them you forget you even took. I’d spend hours, literally hours, scrolling and squinting at the screen. I’d be looking for pairs, or triplets, that had some kind of spark. Maybe it was the color, maybe the subject, sometimes just a feeling.
I didn’t get fancy with software. Nope. Mostly just used whatever basic photo editor was on my computer. Sometimes, I’d even print out small versions and just move them around on my kitchen table. Felt a bit like playing cards with my memories. Yeah, I guess you could say I was trying to find a sequence, a little narrative.
I got really into this one winter. I was stuck inside a lot, and I started going through boxes of old printed photos. Actual physical photos. Piles of them. Pictures of my kids when they were tiny, my folks looking younger, holidays from way back when. It was quite a trip down memory lane, a bit overwhelming to be honest. And I thought, some of these moments, they need more than one frame to tell the story. It became less about making art and more about… I don’t know, trying to piece together forgotten feelings.
So I started grouping them. A diptych of my son learning to ride his bike – the wobbly start, then the triumphant (and still wobbly) ride. A triptych of a flower opening up. Simple things, really. But it felt good. Like I was giving these frozen moments a new voice, a little chorus.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing. Oh no. Many times I’d arrange something, step back, and think, “What on earth was I thinking?” The images would just clash, or the story I thought was there just… wasn’t. It’s surprisingly hard to find images that truly complement each other without one overshadowing the other or the whole thing just looking forced.
And the worst part? Sometimes I’d finally think I nailed it, got the perfect set. Then I’d look at it the next day and it would feel completely flat. Or my wife would walk by, take a quick look, and say something like, “That one on the right feels a bit sad next to the other two.” And you know what? She was usually spot on. Back to sifting through the digital piles, or shuffling prints on the table.
I don’t do it all the time. Just when the mood strikes, or when I’m looking at a bunch of photos from an event and feel like a single shot doesn’t quite capture it. It’s just a way I found to play with my pictures, to look at them a bit differently. Forces you to think about connections, not just individual shots. And yeah, sometimes, just sometimes, you end up with something that feels a little bit special. At least to me.
