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Mime Marcel Marceau, 1973

Marcel Marceau arrived at Jack Mitchell's studio on March 26, 1973 exhausted after a plane trip. He perked up when Mitchell told him his ideas for the session. Mitchell shot a series of photographs, both portraits and full figure shots of Marceau against dark backgrounds - taking multiple exposures on single negatives. His idea, which excited Marceau, was that in each shot he would be reacting to his other selves. Mitchell directed each individual exposure, moved the camera slightly and took a succession of shots. The session lasted two hours and resulted in a wonderfully creative series of photographs. Mitchell used the technique many times during the course of his career and with a variety of artists, dancers, musicians and performers. He loved it because the end result was not completely predictable and always had interesting confluence of highlights.

- Craig B. Highberger