Retracing the steps of my artistic trajectory keeps taking me back to my obsession with spirit photography of the late 1800s and early 1900s. This is technology as mediator for the invisible, the ‘occult’. This type of trick photography I tried to copy in the darkroom was my gateway to Photoshop. Image from 2002.

Visual artist and artistic researcher in the digital realm. Externalising eco-anxiety through new mythologies. Virtual quackery. https://linktr.ee/acrwrs

Experimental photographer
 from aotearoa

https://stusontier.net
https://acquisitive-eye.biote.net

Oh, yes! And how they fooled even Arthur Conan Doyle! It’s amazing how after over 150 years of photographic image manipulation people are still so naive when it comes to images, right? See the whole AI will change our perception of reality discussions, haha.

I'm drawn to this stuff as fantastic examples of how the ability to fool people with visual imagery evolves as the technology does.  I'm sure you know the 'fairy' pictures which convinced many of the 'reality' of them, at the time.