Faux Pictures

Though many artists have tried to recreate the ghostly images of humans, using different formats and techniques to achieve this, many everyday people have also recreated different kinds of ghosts and monsters using the worlds 'unsolved mysteries' to gain publicity and fame. These following examples are all very interesting because of the story behind them, and are examples of members of the public managing to fool the world into believing their tricks. 


The Loch Ness Monster
For years the 'Surgeons Photo' (below) was one of the most iconic photos of evidence for the existence of this mysterious, unidentified creature, which apparently lived in the largest fresh water lake in Great Britain. 

First offically sited in 1933, rumors of a huge animal living in the loch have existed for centuries, and this was one of the first apparently genuine photographs to have been taken of the creature. Since that time the real-or-not moster has been a major tourism boom for Loch Ness and Inverness, and is questionable that rumours that this moster still exists is spurred on by the local who have benefitted from this contunious interest of the creature. The mystery of the creature get more interesting, by the heart-felt belief of many thousands of people, even after no evidence from BBC scientists was found, who scoured the lake in 2003 using 600 seperate sonar beams and satelite navigation with no outcome of such moster ever existing.

Another example of the Loch Ness Monster is this photo taken by former Army captain Frank Searle, whoc searched the lake during the early 1970s. Though he took a number of photos during this search, many of which were published by the media, all have been dismissed by experts as fakes. However at the time of publication, Searle caused great excitement amoungst the general public, which proves that evidence that any mystical creature exists, however unbelievable or scientifically impossible, still has an effect on those who want themselves to believe.

This 1977 attempt to prove the moster's existence proved to be a fake, and Anthony Shiels, who claimed to capture the picture whilst sightseeing besides Urquhart Castle, was dubbed the 'Loch Ness Muppet'

In 1998 an object was filmed from a boat carrying touists, which apparently was swimming accross the surface of the Loch. This was later discoveed to be a log, pushed by the current, floating accross the Loch.

In 2007, 55 year old English lab technician Gordon Holems claimed to have captured the most compelling evidence for the existence of the Loch Ness monster in history. However many belivev this to be a photograph of an otter or similiar water animal, which can look bigger due to the loss of perspective in the water.

In 2009 a Google Earth image shows a large object swimming in the middle of Loch. However on closer inspection is seems to look more like a small boat, rather than this mystical monster.

We found all these photographs held a similiar quality to our pinhole photographs, as they are all quite blurry and out of prespective. This is an interesting aspect to keep in mind whilst adressing the issue of 'unsolved mysteries', as it makes one question if it is just a coincidence that they have not been sighted on the advanced technology of SLR cameras and video recorders.

Pinhole Photography

On Monday the 14th of March we had an induction into pinhole photography. This hands-on, inexpensive and unpredictable way of producing black and white photographic works using the fundamental principles of photography which can be dated back hundreds of years. Though at first we had trouble with over exposure and underexposure, the end result was a collection of ghost-like images, which we then experimented with by layering the images on top of each other, and using fix to create white slashes.

Many artists have perfected the process of pinhole photography, and these following examples show to what extremes one can take this method of photograph taking.

Scott Speck
This collection of pinhole photography has been perfected to such an extent that some photographs could be mistaken for professional dark-room images.

He chooses interesting angles from which to take his images, and 'The Massive National Archives' (above) show how small these pinhole cameras can be made. Also notice the slight curve of the image, which suggest the camera has been made out of a slightly circular object, giving a fish-eye effect.

These are two common themes in his work, as other examples show his focus on the celings of other interesting and well known bulidings, including 'National Shrine Celing' and 'Gothic Glory' (below).



One of the other very attractive aspects about pinhole photography is its lack of restrictions. These images do not to be confined to a single piece of photographic paper, and many artists look into turning entire rooms onto pinhole cameras.

Abelardo Morell

Aberlardo Morell's piece 'Times Square in Hotel Room' shows just how effective this technique can be. By simply transfering the outside world of the streets of New York into his hotel room by using the pinhole process, he completely changes the look of the room.

Due to the physics of the pinhole camera, the image is reflected back to front upside down, resulting with the cars on the street looking as if they are driving along his celing and down the back wall. Adverts such as the Coca-Cola billboard can also be recognised upside down back to front. I think one of the most interesting aspects of this technique is the fact that every space in the room, apart from the shadows, has something interesting reflected on it. as the pinhole does not miss one piece of detail from the street outside.



Derelict Buildings in Leeds

 Royal Park Primary School



Royal Park Primary School in Hyde Park closed in 2004 and has stood empty since then. The building holds all the steriotypes of an abandoned building, including boarded up windows, rusty locks on the gates, and general deteriation of the building itself. This photo comes from a website highlighting the growing conerns about the £850,000 the council has paid over the last three years to maintain and sercure unwanted council properties prior to their sale:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2011/jan/10/leeds-city-council-empty-buildings-cost

Chapel Allerton Hospital

Though this building was just what we were looking for, after a little more research we discovered this building has since been demolished, and the hospital still exists in a modern replacement building.

 J. Cowling & Sons, Morley

This old garage looks like its been derelict for some time. These photographs from both night and day highlight some of the extreme decay which has taken place over the years.
 There is evidence that both human and animal residence, and this is an area which would be very interesting to research into, as it is hard to imagine the circumstances the people were in, to actually stay here, even for one night.

Leeds Int Pool
The photos we found on the internet are of the abandoned Leeds Internation Pool, however the signs of workmen being there show that it is not going under reconstruction. What is especially interesting is the various graffitti which has been down over the years. I especially like the broken windows and mold which is growning over the pools floor sides: http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=6203

Victoria & Hunslet Mills

This massive complex of mills along side the river Aire  have been owned by various companys over the years.  RH Bruce a tool making firm occupying part of the Victoria mills buildings being the last to leave in the early seventies, the site has been derelict ever since.
This abandonment over the past forty years is apparent in the decay of the sites peeling wall paper, and littered floors.  However the actual frame looks impressively solid considering the length of its abandonment, which makes one wonder why it has not been used since then.
 These old employee time cards are especially interesing, as though the date of them is unreadable, it is obvious they date back to the the time the building was last occupated (1970s)