Psypress
July 5th, 2005, 10:59 PM
I always like to share this photo.
I took it in front of Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA in January of 2001.
I was trying to get a shot of the dragon in front of the building, but this beautiful swirly apparition appeared in the print.
It is on the negative as well. It was taken with a 35mm camera.
I don't know anything about film processing, but when I showed this photo to a girl that I worked with a while back, she assumed I had processed it myself. She said that you can make photos like this in a dark room, by spilling a certain chemical over the paper as it's soaking. She even had a specific word for it, like it's an art form, or something. I wish I could remember what she called it now (maybe someone knows?). I explained to her I didn't process it myself. I doubt that this is how they process film in those one-hour photo processing booths, which is how I got it printed, but I honestly have no idea. There were no other smudges or blurs in any of the other photos in the set.
Anyway, I think it's an authentic ectoplasm (wow - I realize that I sound like such a dork saying "ectoplasm" with such seriousness). It almost looks like it could be cigarette smoke, but look how the apparition swoops in and down, right into the center of the photo before blooming out! It's just so clear and solid, I have tried to recreate a photo like this with smoke outdoors, just so I can say I at LEAST have considered it could be something other than a ghost. I am a skeptic about a LOT of things. But I just can't recreate this photo.
Anyway , I thought it was worth sharing! :)
I took it in front of Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA in January of 2001.
I was trying to get a shot of the dragon in front of the building, but this beautiful swirly apparition appeared in the print.
It is on the negative as well. It was taken with a 35mm camera.
I don't know anything about film processing, but when I showed this photo to a girl that I worked with a while back, she assumed I had processed it myself. She said that you can make photos like this in a dark room, by spilling a certain chemical over the paper as it's soaking. She even had a specific word for it, like it's an art form, or something. I wish I could remember what she called it now (maybe someone knows?). I explained to her I didn't process it myself. I doubt that this is how they process film in those one-hour photo processing booths, which is how I got it printed, but I honestly have no idea. There were no other smudges or blurs in any of the other photos in the set.
Anyway, I think it's an authentic ectoplasm (wow - I realize that I sound like such a dork saying "ectoplasm" with such seriousness). It almost looks like it could be cigarette smoke, but look how the apparition swoops in and down, right into the center of the photo before blooming out! It's just so clear and solid, I have tried to recreate a photo like this with smoke outdoors, just so I can say I at LEAST have considered it could be something other than a ghost. I am a skeptic about a LOT of things. But I just can't recreate this photo.
Anyway , I thought it was worth sharing! :)