FirstLook: Poetic Fusion

Prior to our modern practice of image manipulation with editing software, photographers worked more with planned intention and craft. We made premeditated and physical creations either through in-camera techniques, trick shots during the photo shoot, post-manipulation of negatives/slides or during the darkroom processing itself. 

In this image taken in 1993, I sandwiched two original slides together, one a high-contrast silhouette image of a boat on the Senegal River separating Senegal and Mauritania, the other a photo of wind-carved sand dunes taken in the same vicinity. The result is more than an illusion—the visual poetry and fusion of these two realities is a metaphor for Mauritania itself, where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean, and where nomads and fishermen live side by side. 

I created this while living in Mauritania, working with humanitarian agencies, before founding a local NGO focused on collective social and behavior change. 

—JONATHAN SHADID
@JonathanShadid
www.jonathanshadid.com