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Friday Photo #6 - the haunted letterbox

10/10/2013

1 Comment

 
The Haunted Letterbox, the friday photo, Letterbox painted by Tony Fomison, Rita Angus House, Thorndon, Wellington, 22/8/11, Gold- and selenium-toned silver gelatine contact print by Andrew Ross, ghosts in photographs, paranormal photo
Letterbox painted by Tony Fomison, Rita Angus House, Thorndon, Wellington, 22/8/11. 8"x10" gold- and selenium-toned silver gelatine contact print by Andrew Ross
OK, it's another Andrew Ross. I'll give someone else a go next week, but this photo is from his current exhibition at Photospace - Studios and other interiors - showing until 26th October.

The main reason I chose this photo from the exhibition is because of the blur going off to the right of the letterbox. It's not the only Andrew Ross photo with some kind of movement blur in it. Because he uses long exposures in available light (exposures often run into minutes, sometimes hours), objects occasionally move while the shutter is open. This would usually be to do with old building things, like the floor moving as someone walks around, causing a broom to topple - something like that. The photographer has always noticed when these things have occurred, but on this occasion he has no idea what caused the blur.

This photograph keys into another interest of mine - the paranormal. Some years ago, for fun, some friends and I started a paranormal investigation team. Strange Occurrences was originally intended as a kind of elaborate, living, functional art installation; but it naturally became an operational unit! One of the only things we knew how to do early on was answer questions about photos that people sent in. Apparent paranormal phenomena captured on film or digital cameras, we found, could usually be explained rationally with a fairly high degree of certainty. Outside of photography, though, we knew very little.

In the photo above, something material has moved relative to the camera, causing a broad streak of light on the film. Another possibility is some kind of light leak in the camera or the sheet film holder, or mistake in film handling; but these seem far less likely possibilities. The precise cause of this blur remains a mystery. It is enticing, then, to believe that either Rita Angus or Tony Fomison, or both of them, have made an appearance in the photo!

  • More photos by Andrew Ross
  • More about paranormal photographs
  • Formation of Strange Occurrences
  • A plug for the book I co-authored in 2011. Signed copies are available from Photospace at a very reasonable price.
ADDENDA - the photo above appears in Mark Amery's review in the Dominion Post on 16th October 2013 (in the newspaper hardcopy version, not the online version of the review) - Shedding light on the overlooked.



1 Comment
Reg Feuz
26/10/2013 01:43:50 pm

James,

Intriguing, and a added reason perhaps why there is a red dot stuck alongside the framed copy on display in your Gallery.

Besides the obvious wispy movement marks, the right hand top edge of the print also shows patchie light areas, sometimes a sign of light leak or more egregiously overdevelopment at the edge. Naturally viewing the negative would provide more clues as we can't see all the way to the edges in the framed print. Also examination of the particular negative holder for any faults should also be considered.

Another possibility could be that the negative marks are a factory produced defect. I have experienced defects on various brands of photographic paper in the past.

I noticed that Mark Amery in his Dom Post article mentioned that the photo was snapped at night. Another bit of interesting info as to possible light sources.

But most interesting to me is that I managed to find behind the wispy marks the likeness of 1/2 of a face and part of a shoulder starting from the edge of the mailbox. Remarkably it even resembles you! But then again I actually saw you this afternoon and haven't seen Andrew since the opening night of the exhibition.

Much more spooky investigating such problems on film, unlike the obvious ones we now find with digital sensors.

Cheers,

Reg

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