An interesting article on Spectral Photography
While we all wait for me to complete the next book in the trilogy, I thought it would be fun to share a fun "article" that actually gives some historically accurate information on Spectral Photography, as well as ties to the Fatal Frame world. This of course, isn't real, but if it seems like it, then I did well. Enjoy!
The following is an article from Photo Journal Monthly's May 1967 edition, written by Thomas Feldman and re-printed with permission.
Photography and the occult?
Sounds strange, but actually this odd connection, officially recognized as Spectral or Spirit Photography, has quite the strange history and goes as far back as the first film cameras of the late 19th century and still continues to generate interest among those involved in the occult today. Most recently in the news was an incident that took place last year in Greenwich, London where a local clergyman by the name of Rev. R.W. Hardy had taken a very convincing photo of what has now come to be known as the "Greenwich Ghost" at Queen's House.
As a professional photographer and columnist I've found this connection to be a rather interesting and entertaining one over the years, but until recently have had no real interest in writing anything about it, as it all seemed rather silly and preposterous. That is until I met a certain Japanese gentleman named Watanabe a short time ago while attending a photography trade show abroad in Sapporo, Japan, and had the opportunity to change my mind a bit. I'll talk more about him and our encounter here shortly, as I would first like to take a brief moment to enlighten some of our readers a bit on the interesting and highly subjective field of Spirit Photography.
Since the earliest days of the first film cameras, this unusual profession has grown along side that of standard photography quite effectively and has enjoyed a certain amount of fame and prestige, as well as scandal over the years. As a brief matter of history, it was a man named William Mumler, a self-proclaimed medium for taking spirit photographs who first enjoyed quite a bit of fame during the 1860's, and reportedly has taken many photographs of such phenomena over his lifetime, including no less than one of our most famous presidents, Abraham Lincoln, at the behest of his widow, Mary Lincoln. Today, many still believe his "ghostly photos" to be authentic despite the ever increasing criticism from both the professional and non-professional world, alike.
Not surprisingly since Mumler's heyday, many others have come forward with similar claims and abilities to capture images of the deceased and have supplied quite a plethora of ghostly photographs over the years. The vast majority of which have been debunked as being fraudulent by those with even moderate knowledge of the art of photography itself, though there are some that have withstood that criticism quite effectively, such as one Captain Provand's "Brown Lady" of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, taken back in 1936, and currently the aforementioned photo by Rev. Hardy.
Seeing opportunity for financial gain, many con men have attempted to avail themselves of some poor fool's pocketbook by providing "proof" of a loved one's existence beyond the grave. One such man was a Frederick Hudson, whose trickery was exposed one day and was openly branded a fraud. Unfortunately, this was not before reportedly taking no less than 2,500 photographs over the years before finally being caught. Another such con-artist was a French photographer named E. Buguet, who in 1874 was arrested by the French government and was forced to admit his deception publicly.
In my opinion, and many other professionals as well, most of the older photographs can now easily be explained by the archaic techniques our predecessors had to endure with an excruciatingly slow exposure process, whereby the subject was forced to sit motionless for several minutes, and thus allow these so-called "spirits" many opportunities to silently walk into frame from behind, linger for a few moments before an open shutter and just as silently leave.
The end resulted in a semi-transparent and blurry image appearing in frame with the subject and quite effectively giving the photo a supernatural effect, when in fact it was usually nothing more than a paid accomplice dressed in ghostly garb taking advantage of the rudimentary exposure process of the day.
On other occasions, slight of hand was another technique used to switch the film plates beforehand with ones previously having been exposed to pseudo-spiritual beings and then allowed to capture the subject at the time of the photography session, as would be done normally. For all intents and purposes, it appeared to the subject and those witnessing the process that seemingly out of nowhere this ghostly phenomena had suddenly appeared and had been captured on film.
Fortunately, photography has advanced significantly since those early times to really make such unethical practices increasingly more difficult to get away with. But again, even today there remain some examples of these types of photographs that stump even the most advanced photography professional, including myself. I admit that in all my years of mastering the photographic field, I am at a loss to explain the good Reverend Hardy's "Greenwich Ghost". I say this without fear of reprisal from amongst my peers, as they too can offer no reasonable explanations at this time. Perhaps in the near future some hot-shot kid with a new camera will uncover the mystery and make us all look like inept old fools. I look forward to it, however, as it will mean the art is in good hands.
All this is a matter of history for which I'll include references if the reader wishes to investigate further. Now on to the real focus of my article. As I was stating earlier, I met with a man named Watanabe while In Japan, who was also a professional photographer of sorts. Together we'd struck up a friendly conversation and naturally it had eventually steered towards work. When I had informed him that I was a columnist for a major photography magazine, he spared no time in telling me of his own interests and focus as a photographer. He then informed me that he was a self-proclaimed "ghost-hunter", and spent most of his days researching and gathering as much information as he could to prove the existence of such spiritual phenomena.
At first I thought him possibly just some eccentric amateur, but as we talked more, it became clear that he was very well educated and knowledgeable about both photography and occult history. I was quite intrigued, and as he was a very likeable and well mannered person, we ended up having our lunch together later that day and talked in greater detail about both our chosen professions.
We'd begun to discuss the latest photography equipment on the market, and once again I was amazed at his level of knowledge. It was then that he showed me his own personal tool the trade: an older style folding camera. It was a special camera he'd informed me, specifically designed for the capturing of that which is unseen to the naked human eye. He called it the Camera Obscura (not to be confused the the old Latin term 'camera obscura', meaning darkroom), and took it out of his bag and set it on the table before me. I'd casually picked it up and noted the body to be that of a very common and low-end consumer folder produced by a Chicago based company in the early 1950's, and initially was unimpressed. How and why a man of his apparent knowledge and means would make such a poor choice on equipment was more than mildly surprising to me.
He must have sensed my initial lack of enthusiasm for a clearly amateurish piece of photography equipment and quickly explained that the body itself was selected for its strength of material and simplicity, and that the real secret to its power lay in both the lens and special film it required. I quickly smiled and nodded in relief. It was true that as a basic camera it was minimalist in its features, such as the shutter and lens, but it was also true that its all steel construction made it a solidly built piece of equipment, without a single bit of Bakelite or plastic to be found anywhere on it. I then opened it up and extended the bellows to full and noted that it indeed had been heavily modified from its original condition and became genuinely interested in this odd novelty camera.
One of the most intriguing features I noted about it were a series of Chinese characters arranged in a clock-like pattern on the shutter around the lens. He quickly pointed out that they were the twelve characters of the Chinese zodiac and a trademark addition to all of this type of special camera, first created by a man he named as Dr. Kunihiko Asou. He then informed me that some of the other models had a thirteenth character for "zero" added in as well, but on this particular one that character had been omitted.
I recalled coming across Asou's name briefly in my years of research and writing, and came to find out that the man's niece, a Mariko Asou, now Mariko Watanabe, was now the wife of the man before me, and that from early on in their marriage had been interested in continuing the research first started by her uncle. As we spoke at length I learned that Dr. Asou, now deceased, had been a fairly well-known Japanese occultist and inventor from the late 19th to early 20th century and had devoted his life to the pursuit of proving the existence of the spirit world, both through sight and sound.
Mr. Watanabe further told me that he had even created a radio of some sort that could pick up voices from beyond the grave, similar to a project Thomas Edison had once endeavored upon during his own lifetime. Unlike Edison's inventions however, his were never accepted by those in the scientific community. Mr. Watanabe then stated that he wished to someday change that and bring true esteem and respect to the field in which he worked and ultimately to vindicate Asou's work.
As I had casually turned the odd camera over in my hands and looked through its simple viewfinder, I found nothing unusual or out of place, other than a few minor cosmetic changes, such as the lens and shutter, whose design upon close inspection I could not identify. On the inside of the camera's film door there was also a small label which read:
Camera Obscura
Spectral Photography Equipment
Prototype Model no. 5
Patents Pending USA/Japan
1953 Asou & Watanabe
For use with
Spectral and Regular
120 Film
Mr. Watanabe then told me that both he and Mariko were absolutely serious about their commitment to their work and upon hearing the passion in his voice, I did not doubt him for a moment. When I questioned him about "Model no. 5", he informed me that several models of this so-called "Camera Obscura" had been made over the years, each being somewhat different in design, and that the one I now held was one of his and his wife's own creation based on the all but lost research of the late Dr. Asou.
Of course, all this led me to the next question of his personal experiences with the spirit world. However, when I asked directly about his own experiences and successes with the camera, he merely smiled and stated that he'd had a few odd encounters and that the camera functioned as he described, but declined to show me any actual photos he'd taken, or elaborate further on the subject. When he saw the curious look upon my face he then asked me that even if he did show me various images of things beyond our world, would I accept them as being real? When I had no immediate response, he then held his hands open wide, smiled warmly and told me that unlike certain men of the past, he had no interest in appealing his case prematurely and bringing unnecessary criticism upon the field any further.
He informed me that he was content to know that his findings were valid, as they'd come from first hand experience and was not looking for endorsement of others just yet. When undeniable proof had been made available, then, and only then, would he submit his research before the world. I deeply respected his answer, and found his approach quite different from others I'd read about in the past.
Sadly though, Mr. Watanabe further informed me that although highly regarded among his fellow occultists, Dr. Asou's inventions and research were all but dismissed by the scientific community at large during his lifetime and had never received the credit he was due for all his labor and efforts, and had no wish to compound that very problem. As the entire field has been highly scrutinized over the years, this is not at all unexpected. Mr. Watanabe believes this scrutiny, even amongst those who believe in otherworld presences comes fairly, and is mostly in part due to the decades of fraud that has surfaced from within their fold and thus has damaged the reputation of those truly serious and involved in genuine occult research.
I'd sympathized with his argument, as I had no real basis to dismiss his beliefs out of hand and offered up my best wishes for his pursuits, finding it somewhat refreshing to meet someone genuinely passionate about their work and apparently sincere in their intentions. When I informed him that I thought our conversation might make for an interesting article, he was somewhat reluctant for me share our time together but conceded it was no secret to what he was doing and only asked that I present our conversation evenly in my writing. I assured him that I would and he conceded with a nod, even giving me permission to photograph his unique camera for all to see (see top of story). I trust that if he does read this article as I hope that he will, he will find that I presented things accurately.
In closing, I would like to wish the best of luck to Mr. Watanabe and his wife, Mariko, as they both labor together to bring some respect to their field of work, and look forward to hopefully someday seeing the fruits of their efforts come to bear. Whether or not ghosts and spirits are able to be photographed, much less proved to even exist, I cannot say one way or the other, but I'll keep an open mind about it all. I believe that if there is anyone, or any one team that may one day prove these very things to the world at large, it will be that of “Asou & Watanabe”.
In next month's article I'll be bringing us the latest on Canon's directional changes for the new film standard as first revealed to us by their CEO, President Mitarai, last January, and how things are currently unfolding at this time. Until then.
Regards,
Thomas Feldman, Senior Columnist
Photo Journal Monthly
* * *
If you enjoyed this and thought it added to the overall experience, please let me know. Also, as a fun side-note, I even made a Camera Obscura, as described in this article and was looking for a way to show it off. That's when the idea for this little article came to me. Just having fun...
Regards,
scott
The following is an article from Photo Journal Monthly's May 1967 edition, written by Thomas Feldman and re-printed with permission.
Photography and the occult?
Sounds strange, but actually this odd connection, officially recognized as Spectral or Spirit Photography, has quite the strange history and goes as far back as the first film cameras of the late 19th century and still continues to generate interest among those involved in the occult today. Most recently in the news was an incident that took place last year in Greenwich, London where a local clergyman by the name of Rev. R.W. Hardy had taken a very convincing photo of what has now come to be known as the "Greenwich Ghost" at Queen's House.
As a professional photographer and columnist I've found this connection to be a rather interesting and entertaining one over the years, but until recently have had no real interest in writing anything about it, as it all seemed rather silly and preposterous. That is until I met a certain Japanese gentleman named Watanabe a short time ago while attending a photography trade show abroad in Sapporo, Japan, and had the opportunity to change my mind a bit. I'll talk more about him and our encounter here shortly, as I would first like to take a brief moment to enlighten some of our readers a bit on the interesting and highly subjective field of Spirit Photography.
Since the earliest days of the first film cameras, this unusual profession has grown along side that of standard photography quite effectively and has enjoyed a certain amount of fame and prestige, as well as scandal over the years. As a brief matter of history, it was a man named William Mumler, a self-proclaimed medium for taking spirit photographs who first enjoyed quite a bit of fame during the 1860's, and reportedly has taken many photographs of such phenomena over his lifetime, including no less than one of our most famous presidents, Abraham Lincoln, at the behest of his widow, Mary Lincoln. Today, many still believe his "ghostly photos" to be authentic despite the ever increasing criticism from both the professional and non-professional world, alike.
Not surprisingly since Mumler's heyday, many others have come forward with similar claims and abilities to capture images of the deceased and have supplied quite a plethora of ghostly photographs over the years. The vast majority of which have been debunked as being fraudulent by those with even moderate knowledge of the art of photography itself, though there are some that have withstood that criticism quite effectively, such as one Captain Provand's "Brown Lady" of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, taken back in 1936, and currently the aforementioned photo by Rev. Hardy.
Seeing opportunity for financial gain, many con men have attempted to avail themselves of some poor fool's pocketbook by providing "proof" of a loved one's existence beyond the grave. One such man was a Frederick Hudson, whose trickery was exposed one day and was openly branded a fraud. Unfortunately, this was not before reportedly taking no less than 2,500 photographs over the years before finally being caught. Another such con-artist was a French photographer named E. Buguet, who in 1874 was arrested by the French government and was forced to admit his deception publicly.
In my opinion, and many other professionals as well, most of the older photographs can now easily be explained by the archaic techniques our predecessors had to endure with an excruciatingly slow exposure process, whereby the subject was forced to sit motionless for several minutes, and thus allow these so-called "spirits" many opportunities to silently walk into frame from behind, linger for a few moments before an open shutter and just as silently leave.
The end resulted in a semi-transparent and blurry image appearing in frame with the subject and quite effectively giving the photo a supernatural effect, when in fact it was usually nothing more than a paid accomplice dressed in ghostly garb taking advantage of the rudimentary exposure process of the day.
On other occasions, slight of hand was another technique used to switch the film plates beforehand with ones previously having been exposed to pseudo-spiritual beings and then allowed to capture the subject at the time of the photography session, as would be done normally. For all intents and purposes, it appeared to the subject and those witnessing the process that seemingly out of nowhere this ghostly phenomena had suddenly appeared and had been captured on film.
Fortunately, photography has advanced significantly since those early times to really make such unethical practices increasingly more difficult to get away with. But again, even today there remain some examples of these types of photographs that stump even the most advanced photography professional, including myself. I admit that in all my years of mastering the photographic field, I am at a loss to explain the good Reverend Hardy's "Greenwich Ghost". I say this without fear of reprisal from amongst my peers, as they too can offer no reasonable explanations at this time. Perhaps in the near future some hot-shot kid with a new camera will uncover the mystery and make us all look like inept old fools. I look forward to it, however, as it will mean the art is in good hands.
All this is a matter of history for which I'll include references if the reader wishes to investigate further. Now on to the real focus of my article. As I was stating earlier, I met with a man named Watanabe while In Japan, who was also a professional photographer of sorts. Together we'd struck up a friendly conversation and naturally it had eventually steered towards work. When I had informed him that I was a columnist for a major photography magazine, he spared no time in telling me of his own interests and focus as a photographer. He then informed me that he was a self-proclaimed "ghost-hunter", and spent most of his days researching and gathering as much information as he could to prove the existence of such spiritual phenomena.
At first I thought him possibly just some eccentric amateur, but as we talked more, it became clear that he was very well educated and knowledgeable about both photography and occult history. I was quite intrigued, and as he was a very likeable and well mannered person, we ended up having our lunch together later that day and talked in greater detail about both our chosen professions.
We'd begun to discuss the latest photography equipment on the market, and once again I was amazed at his level of knowledge. It was then that he showed me his own personal tool the trade: an older style folding camera. It was a special camera he'd informed me, specifically designed for the capturing of that which is unseen to the naked human eye. He called it the Camera Obscura (not to be confused the the old Latin term 'camera obscura', meaning darkroom), and took it out of his bag and set it on the table before me. I'd casually picked it up and noted the body to be that of a very common and low-end consumer folder produced by a Chicago based company in the early 1950's, and initially was unimpressed. How and why a man of his apparent knowledge and means would make such a poor choice on equipment was more than mildly surprising to me.
He must have sensed my initial lack of enthusiasm for a clearly amateurish piece of photography equipment and quickly explained that the body itself was selected for its strength of material and simplicity, and that the real secret to its power lay in both the lens and special film it required. I quickly smiled and nodded in relief. It was true that as a basic camera it was minimalist in its features, such as the shutter and lens, but it was also true that its all steel construction made it a solidly built piece of equipment, without a single bit of Bakelite or plastic to be found anywhere on it. I then opened it up and extended the bellows to full and noted that it indeed had been heavily modified from its original condition and became genuinely interested in this odd novelty camera.
One of the most intriguing features I noted about it were a series of Chinese characters arranged in a clock-like pattern on the shutter around the lens. He quickly pointed out that they were the twelve characters of the Chinese zodiac and a trademark addition to all of this type of special camera, first created by a man he named as Dr. Kunihiko Asou. He then informed me that some of the other models had a thirteenth character for "zero" added in as well, but on this particular one that character had been omitted.
I recalled coming across Asou's name briefly in my years of research and writing, and came to find out that the man's niece, a Mariko Asou, now Mariko Watanabe, was now the wife of the man before me, and that from early on in their marriage had been interested in continuing the research first started by her uncle. As we spoke at length I learned that Dr. Asou, now deceased, had been a fairly well-known Japanese occultist and inventor from the late 19th to early 20th century and had devoted his life to the pursuit of proving the existence of the spirit world, both through sight and sound.
Mr. Watanabe further told me that he had even created a radio of some sort that could pick up voices from beyond the grave, similar to a project Thomas Edison had once endeavored upon during his own lifetime. Unlike Edison's inventions however, his were never accepted by those in the scientific community. Mr. Watanabe then stated that he wished to someday change that and bring true esteem and respect to the field in which he worked and ultimately to vindicate Asou's work.
As I had casually turned the odd camera over in my hands and looked through its simple viewfinder, I found nothing unusual or out of place, other than a few minor cosmetic changes, such as the lens and shutter, whose design upon close inspection I could not identify. On the inside of the camera's film door there was also a small label which read:
Spectral Photography Equipment
Prototype Model no. 5
Patents Pending USA/Japan
1953 Asou & Watanabe
For use with
Spectral and Regular
120 Film
Mr. Watanabe then told me that both he and Mariko were absolutely serious about their commitment to their work and upon hearing the passion in his voice, I did not doubt him for a moment. When I questioned him about "Model no. 5", he informed me that several models of this so-called "Camera Obscura" had been made over the years, each being somewhat different in design, and that the one I now held was one of his and his wife's own creation based on the all but lost research of the late Dr. Asou.
Of course, all this led me to the next question of his personal experiences with the spirit world. However, when I asked directly about his own experiences and successes with the camera, he merely smiled and stated that he'd had a few odd encounters and that the camera functioned as he described, but declined to show me any actual photos he'd taken, or elaborate further on the subject. When he saw the curious look upon my face he then asked me that even if he did show me various images of things beyond our world, would I accept them as being real? When I had no immediate response, he then held his hands open wide, smiled warmly and told me that unlike certain men of the past, he had no interest in appealing his case prematurely and bringing unnecessary criticism upon the field any further.
He informed me that he was content to know that his findings were valid, as they'd come from first hand experience and was not looking for endorsement of others just yet. When undeniable proof had been made available, then, and only then, would he submit his research before the world. I deeply respected his answer, and found his approach quite different from others I'd read about in the past.
Sadly though, Mr. Watanabe further informed me that although highly regarded among his fellow occultists, Dr. Asou's inventions and research were all but dismissed by the scientific community at large during his lifetime and had never received the credit he was due for all his labor and efforts, and had no wish to compound that very problem. As the entire field has been highly scrutinized over the years, this is not at all unexpected. Mr. Watanabe believes this scrutiny, even amongst those who believe in otherworld presences comes fairly, and is mostly in part due to the decades of fraud that has surfaced from within their fold and thus has damaged the reputation of those truly serious and involved in genuine occult research.
I'd sympathized with his argument, as I had no real basis to dismiss his beliefs out of hand and offered up my best wishes for his pursuits, finding it somewhat refreshing to meet someone genuinely passionate about their work and apparently sincere in their intentions. When I informed him that I thought our conversation might make for an interesting article, he was somewhat reluctant for me share our time together but conceded it was no secret to what he was doing and only asked that I present our conversation evenly in my writing. I assured him that I would and he conceded with a nod, even giving me permission to photograph his unique camera for all to see (see top of story). I trust that if he does read this article as I hope that he will, he will find that I presented things accurately.
In closing, I would like to wish the best of luck to Mr. Watanabe and his wife, Mariko, as they both labor together to bring some respect to their field of work, and look forward to hopefully someday seeing the fruits of their efforts come to bear. Whether or not ghosts and spirits are able to be photographed, much less proved to even exist, I cannot say one way or the other, but I'll keep an open mind about it all. I believe that if there is anyone, or any one team that may one day prove these very things to the world at large, it will be that of “Asou & Watanabe”.
In next month's article I'll be bringing us the latest on Canon's directional changes for the new film standard as first revealed to us by their CEO, President Mitarai, last January, and how things are currently unfolding at this time. Until then.
Regards,
Thomas Feldman, Senior Columnist
Photo Journal Monthly
* * *
If you enjoyed this and thought it added to the overall experience, please let me know. Also, as a fun side-note, I even made a Camera Obscura, as described in this article and was looking for a way to show it off. That's when the idea for this little article came to me. Just having fun...
Regards,
scott
posted by sukatto at 6:50 PM
5 Comments:
For a moment there i thought it was the real article, until i read the last paragraph.
Hahahahah......
A very interesting article, so real...even the camera.
Great job!
I salute you! Nice to have enthusiastic Fatal Frame fans like you!
Hmm....I can't wait for your next article ...And you next book!
Hi!
Once again, thanks for the nice words and encouragemant. I spent about ten hours on the second book last night and made some solid progess, so keep checking back, cause you'll never know when It'll get posted. =)
Cheers,
Scott
dude, that was awesome. i want a camera obscura!!! n-e ways, ^^;;; heh. yea, that really did sound real and well, i do believe i'll start reading your books too. ( i was going to in the first place... but yeah...) can't wait for your next works!
~<3 Tainted Ripper
Thanks!
I'm really happy to know you enjoyed my writing. This Fatal Frame writing is a real experiment for me, as I'm used to writing Star Wars stuff which is more action oriented.
But since I really loved these games, I just couldn't resist trying my hand at writing something like them. I appreciate the feedback.
Regards,
Scott
Keep writing the Fatal Frame novels pass the current trilogy...they are great...
I got fatal frame 1...2....3...on ps 2....and your novels do them justice...I found your website a short while ago..and your novels got me hooked
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