The Seance Parlor–A Comparison

When I went to TURF: IDADA Art Pavilion the other day, one of my favorite installations was “Step On This Side Of The Curtain” by Holly Streekstra. The mood was haunting and flickered between light and dark. I captured a few photos using ambient light but knew that they were most likely blurred so I decided to use the on-camera flash. (Ugh! But what’s a girl to do under such low-light conditions?) I especially loved the globe chandelier because it was so reminiscent of a past era. I waited for the globe lights to be full-on and with my on-camera flash I captured this Victorian parlor.

It looked good on the LCD monitor so I thought I had a pretty decent photograph of that room that I could use for the review I would later write.

When I got home and downloaded all the images, I began my work flow. My photography work flow is to download the images onto my computer and into files sorted by date taken. Then I use Adobe Bridge where I quickly scan and delete obvious rejects; blurred and out-of-focus, too dark, redundant, bland, etc. This makes the remaining photos easier to work through.

Sometimes I am automatic in deleting images because I know that blurred images and too-dark images are not usually keepers. Because of that, I almost…almost…deleted this photo.

But I couldn’t. It wouldn’t let me. My heart quickened when I saw it. I remembered the dizziness I felt when I entered that room. I remembered the whispering voices, the surreal furnishing, the otherworldly mirrors. I remembered looking into a mirror and seeing the reflection of the globe chandelier but not my own reflection. I remembered all that because of this image.

If I were to choose a favorite photograph from all the installation photos I took that day, this is it, hands down! I wish I could say that I intended this photograph, that I had the presence of mind to play with the slow shutter speed in order create an otherworldly feel. But that’s not what happened. This photo is an accident.

Or, maybe it wasn’t an accident. Maybe, just maybe, a ghost made this photograph.

I like that.