Spirit Photography
The Commission attempted to examine a famed "spirit photographer," Mr. W.M. Keeler. Spirit photography, in the 1880s, was much like conventional portrait photography, except that the developed plates would show shadowy figures, usually identified by the subject as deceased loved ones. Mr. Keeler demanded such a high fee and imposed so many conditions on the Commission that they concluded that he was unwilling to be examined and that investigating him would be a waste of time. The Commission noted that "In these days of 'Composite Photography' it is worse than childish to claim a Spiritual source for results which can be obtained at any time by any tyro in the art."
Read more about this topic: Seybert Commission
Famous quotes containing the words spirit and/or photography:
“The dove and very blessed spirit of peace.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If photography is allowed to stand in for art in some of its functions it will soon supplant or corrupt it completely thanks to the natural support it will find in the stupidity of the multitude. It must return to its real task, which is to be the servant of the sciences and the arts, but the very humble servant, like printing and shorthand which have neither created nor supplanted literature.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)