Spring 2013 History of Photography

In honest opinion spiritual photography is both crazy and amazing. Taggart’s images of the vodou  ritual being done in the basement, were highly intense. I’d must admit, even though  the article did mention he does still photography its right, that images show the exact movement, dance, and sound that can possibly be in that basement. The images are some what disturbing , in one form or another, but it something that people actually do, for their religion, and other reasons. Still i can see how some people can feel afraid of these photos because of the violent material shown in the some photos, for example the second image shown with the soldier and his weapon may come to harm to people. Also the mention of animal sacrifice being done during these ritual just to connect to the spiritual world. Taggart must have a strong feeling and desire towards this type of work, because it seems pretty dangerous if there is real danger and these moment aren’t just an act being played. Some people don’t believe in the spirit world and the people it can have over people. I’m not sure if vodou is real, but it seems like it can be something intensely scary and dangerous.

I do not consider that photography of spirits can be captured. We all know that with long exposures people can walk into a photograph and then leave before exposure time completes, so that they appear to look transparent. As we discussed in class and this method is still used today. As far as possessions go religion and how committed people are to their belies can affect them greatly. For example when Shannon Taggart talks about people screaming and getting out of control they can be simply expressing them self and letting go to feel some release possibly. I don’t think possession and voodoo is something physically real I think that it is a mental thing. I don’t think these kinds of photographs are advantageous or essential because they can be phony and we would never know we only have the choice to take the photographers word for it but how would we know if it was staged or not. To me the photographs are not valid for historical proof of entities but the compositions of these photographs are interesting because of the way the photographers thought about what they were photographing and how to capture such moments. However if it is beneficial, existent or significant I suppose is for each individual person to decide based on his or her beliefs.

I don’t with Taggarts spiritually aspects due to my religion. The way she she shows people in these photos aren’t appealing to me. It actually scares me a little bit. Everyone is untitled to their own beliefs. Some will choose to agree with her photos and others will not. With the way I was raised in a Christian home, this is some what of devilish ways. I personally don’t believe in Vodou. But being that Taggarts wanted the this type of spiritually beliefs to be shown people had to respect it. The photos to some might be acceptable to them because they believe in it as for myself I don’t agree or accept it. But as for documenting religious experiences is good because then one gets to see what other do with there personally traditions/religion. One doesn’t have to agree with a work but accepting it is a different thing.

After reading the interview and seeing some of his photographs, I don’t think that Polidori is aestheticizing the settings of catastrophe, although he said that he tries to do so. I think he is just documenting these places, not only for the record, but to show how these catastrophes can affect peoples lives. I think he wants some kind of reaction out of the viewers. Having people in the actual photographs would reveal the kind of emotion one should have just by analyzing the body language and/or facial expressions. When viewed with no people in the photograph, the viewer really had to decide on his/her own if it is negative or positive. This gives the photographs more power. I actually really liked his description of the exoskeleton of peoples lives because it is what they have left behind. These remains are a better way to analyze and interpret the photographs without the need for people. Also, I didn’t agree with others who call him immoral opportunist because he wasn’t staging anything or taking advantage of anyone. He was simply documenting places in a way he sees fit.

I find Taggart’s Vodou series eerie, the concept of vodou or photographing spirits is strange in my opinion. Taggart’s photos display individuals who are unconscious, have their eyes rolling to the back of their head or they are dancing. Before reading the article I thought that spiritual photography was literal photographs of spirits. I did not see any proofs of spirits, rather individuals reacting to spirits. This practice is beneficial to individuals who believe in practices of vodou, however it may seem strange to individuals looking into their culture. Taggart did state that “When the Loa possesses the worshiper (the scene may become) wild, very physical and intense.” Personally I do not find this very welcoming to individuals who may find contacting spirits scary. It is a ritual that requires an open mind, it may be recommended that individuals research this ritual and culture before they jump into vodou.

Vodou and poccession being involved about this makes me thing about movies I seen that involved that. Discussing religion to other people doesn’t always have the same result, based on personal beliefs. That includes those that believe and those that choose not to believe, in other words the Atheists. A few of the photos looks as they were staged, as in the photos with people that have surprised facial expressions. Looking at the photos more further, they look a bit more bizarre since they are in color. Another movie title comes to mind when communicating with the dead is involved, but I don’t know if I ever seen documentaries where rituals of communicating with the dead are possible. In my opinion, I have no such belief that the dead can be communicated in any kind of way, so I say. Seeing a pocession or an exorcism being performed being documented for Nat Geo it can look disturbing since it does sort of look real. The photos that are in color look real to me as well. All of this can be a subject of interest for those studying other spirits, and even spiritualism.

Every culture has their own traditions, beliefs and religious rituals and practices, however people always tend to be very critical and unfavorable to certain practices, specially religious. In my personal opinion it is kind of scary and bizarre to look at the photographs and the spiritualists’ expressions. I’m not a believer of connecting with the death and communicating with them. In the other hand, I think Shannon Taggart’s photography is valuable because she believes in those performances and spiritualists when are being possess can afterwards look at themselves in paper and it is evidence. I think that when people do this kind of photography, they are mentally prepared for scenarios like those, where people are completely out of control in a state of mind that it might be difficult to witness. If Taggart has the permission of the spiritualists to be photograph then I think she is not being intrusive and is just documenting a cultural ritual that can be learn and understood by people interested in religion and the psychological side of these practices. What is also interesting is the fact of bringing this ritual to this country and practice it on their believers.

Supernatural is one of the hot topics, since we don’t know much enough in this field. Every time when i look at this type of photograph, my reaction is always the same. What is that? Is that really exist? Giving me a sense of mystery. After finish the reading,” Taggart’s Vodou photographs” , it kinda get a better sense of documenting religious experience. As like Taggart’s project, she’s going to follow Vodou and photographing them. The more difficult part of photographing Spiritualist is that the object out of control. Basically, you never know the object what’s going on next. There is too many variables and unpredictable. It’s hard to determine this type of documentation whether is valuable or not ,unless we get more about detail in this field. Otherwise, all we can do is keeping explore it until someday we can find the evidence. Every photographers can be do it, but the result could be invaluable. On the other hand, most people don’t understand or misunderstanding these religious culture. Thus, spiritualist photograph is not easy to convince people.

I find this type of photography very intriguing, similar to painters who paint while on drugs, its out of the norm and very peculiar. It may be difficult depending on the type of religion you’re documenting or certain things the photographer might not be comfortable with, like sacrificing animals etc. but if up for the challenge you will get interesting photographs like that of Shannon Taggart’s. This documentation is definitely valuable for people who study religions and psychology, it gives them a way to get into the persons mindset and examine things further. It might be intrusive depending on the people and religion, some might not feel comfortable being photographed when in a spiritual state. Others might not feel comfortable witnessing other religious rituals, especially vodou since it has a history of being depicted as evil. Shannon Taggart’s photographs are a different than F. Holland Day’s photo in the sense that they are documenting rituals instead of recreating or reenacting religious history.