The zone plate imaging that I have been doing produces soft focus and ethereal looking photograpahs. Seeing the 'ghostlike' results that are obtained made me think about the phenomena of 'spirit photography' that began in the 1860's. At that time, there were people who purported to being able to take photographs in which spirits or ghosts appeared in the image that had not been visible to the naked eye.
Bill Jay wrote a marvelous essay on the history of 'spirit photography' entitled "A Case Of Spirits". It is really a fascinating read and one that I think will be enjoyed by those interested in some of the more bizarre aspects of photographic history . If you have never read Bill Jay's writing before, you are in for a real treat. I have previously posted about the extensive number of his essays and writings that he makes available on his website. There is plenty more interesting material to read after finishing the essay on spirit photography.
Feb 21, 2009
Spirit Photography
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3 comments:
Thanks for the link Howard it definitely looks like a good read.
I'm really glad you posted this article -- quite a timely find for me, as I was just revisiting a ghost photo project that has ties to spirit photography. So thanks!
That was good timing!
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