Not to be confused with an “All Ages Show,”  this exhibit is a ten-year retrospective of Ed Snyder’s Cemetery Statuary Photography.

Exhibit runs the entire month of December, 2009 (daily, 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.)

Philadelphia Java Company, 518 South Fourth Street (near South St.), Philadelphia, PA   (215) 928-1811

Matted framed images for sale by contacting artist: mourningarts@yahoo.com

Opening Reception Friday, Feb. 15, 6 – 8 pm.
http://saintasaphs.org/Current_Exhibit.html

Ed Snyder is having a show of his photography at St. Asaph Gallery, Feb. 17 – Mar. 16 2008. Twenty images spanning his 10-year study of cemetery statuary will be on display. The exhibit merges art and photography with society’s desire to come to terms with death and dying. Oh, and there will be wine and snacks to lighten things up a bit.

St. Asaph church, attached to the gallery, is sort of a miniature gothic cathedral, complete with gargoyles and Tiffany stained glass windows! It’s located one block off City Avenue, near Belmont Avenue in Philadelphia. Please see their website for directions: http://saintasaphs.org/Contacts.html

Intro

A friend loaned me “Safelight” because it’s about photography and death—two of my hobbies. She said it made her depressed. And it is a depressing book, in the same way “Tuesdays With Morrie” (Mitch Albom) is a depressing book. Drawing from his experience as a paramedic in Harlem, the author takes us on a gritty ride through the squalid backstreets of NYC circa 1990. Through his main character Frank, a paramedic, Mr. Burke relates life through ambulance calls with gruesome clarity and realism. Frank’s job is the vehicle for the story.

What is Safelight about?

The word safelight refers literally to the reddish light used in photographic darkrooms. Metaphorically it has other meanings in the book. Written in the first person, Safelight is a riveting account of a two-year portion of the main character’s life. Frank, the paramedic, is also an amateur photographer who likes to photograph dead, injured, and decrepit people. It appears to be a sick habit his coworkers tolerate, maybe even admire. We never really find out why he does it (to which I can relate, as a photographer), only that it helps him cope in some real way with his life and the death of his father. Frank enters a relationship with a terminally ill woman, a professional fencer. Life happens quickly in this relatively short book.

What is Safelight about?

The characters in Safelight are tough, as one would envision New Yorkers to be. Tough ‘til the end. Though none of them are developed to any great extent, we learn who they are and how they are wired effectively enough to hold the story together. They are thoroughly believable from my perspective: I’m a photographer, I live in a big city, I work at a hospital, and I have a (possibly) less-than-wholesome interest in death.

Harlem, 1990

Set in the tenement neighborhoods of New York City in 1990, the book is part love story, part self-discovery. Frank gets into various forms of trouble, or rather, puts him into situations that seem unwise from an objective point of view. But really, we sometimes do things that are inexplicable, not only to the watching world, but to our own selves. Some of the things the characters do also seem inexplicable; though we know they can and do happen.

Reading this book is another one of those inexplicable things. It’s almost like you know there will be a bad outcome, but you keep reading, expecting some life-affirming philosophy at the end. In this regard, the book does not disappoint. I found it difficult to put down, perhaps because it appealed to me on so many levels. Paramedics would find the story technically accurate. Photographers will relate to Frank, especially if they’ve labored to find direction, reason, and an outlet for their work. No different, really, than the average person looking for and possibly finding direction. After reading Safelight, we’re tempted to look back on our own lives and consider that specific experiences may not have been mere distractions in our path, but rather guideposts. Could such an epiphany change the way we view future events?

The Writing Style

Safelight is Burke’s first novel. The writing is almost in journal, or diary form. Maybe what you’d expect in a paramedic’s notebook. It’s concise, almost terse writing style is engaging in that you know this chapter will not contain fluff. You expect the other shoe to drop at any time.

Summarizing Safelight

It seems to me the goal of the book is to make us think about why we do what we do. We see from chronologic narratives how lives are shaped by discreet events–birth, childhood, friendships, marriage, divorce, death. But we also see that only the first event, birth, is beyond our control. Whatever else happens to us is usually of our choosing. Things don’t happen to us so much as we choose our directions.

A book like this can make you feel a lot of things—like you are afraid to die, like you should appreciate the beauty in the world, like starting a new romance, be accepting of death. In the liner notes, Safelight is described as a “love story not for the faint of heart.” Sounds trite, but for me it meant that a love story doesn’t necessarily mean the couple will live happily ever after. Its optimism stems from the fact that life really only has one end. When we find ourselves at an impasse, stalled, or traumatized, we can think of how Helen Keller said that when one door closes, another opens.

You can now buy products with Celestial Angel (to the left) and Cemetery (featured in Death Depicted in Cemetery Symbolism – Part 2).Mugshots CoffeeHouse & Cafe
110 Cotton Street. Philadelphia, PA 19127
Just off Main Street in Manayunk
Phone: 215.482.3964
Check their website for hours and directions

Also, I’ll have two pieces in a show at Laurel Hill Cemetery from Sept. 9 – 30 including the piece to the left. In conjunction with Laurel Hill’s Spoon River reenactment (see below), the cemetery will host an exhibit of “Cemetery and Death-Related Art” in its gatehouse gallery. I’ve seen some of this – wow, and I thought I was odd…! You can also see other cemetery artifacts there. Laurel Hill is really an amazing place.

Check out Laurel Hill’s new website for hours and directions.

Fringe Festival Performance – The Late Laureates of Laurel Hill (Cemetery)

Spoon River is a book of fictitious epitaphs written by Edgar Lee Masters in 1915. Written as if the dead citizens of a Midwestern town are speaking from the grave, it has been adapted for theatre in the past–occasionally with a musical score added. As part of the 2006 Philly Fringe Live Arts Festival, a twilight reading of Spoon River will take place in Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery. See the Fringe Festival website for details.

Artist Statement

“Cemetery and Penitentiary Photography” was the working title of this show. The actual title of the show became “Confinement in Solitude.” In this article I’m going to explain how I came up with that title. Here’s my Artist’s Statement for the show:

“Confinement in Solitude”

These words, used to describe Eastern State Penitentiary’s philosophy toward criminals, eerily parallel that of a cemetery. ESP’s original idea that freedom (from criminal behavior) could be achieved through confinement was less than successful. Isn’t everything about the tension between freedom and confinement? Cemetery angels vividly portray this–creatures of flight, frozen in stone.

I’d long been a fan of urban decay-beauty in detritus. Perhaps one reason I enjoy photographing old cemeteries and Eastern State Penitentiary is this oppressive attraction they both possess. But how to connect the two? Coming up with an Artist’s Statement is considerably more difficult than coming up with a title for an individual piece of artwork. I would rather eat bees than do either. Such contemplative writing requires more soul-searching, I believe, than the actual creation of the art itself. So much of the creative process is feeling, rather than overt planning. Like the artist N.C. Wyeth said, in order to create a successful piece of artwork, you must have an emotional connection with the subject. Agreed, but how do you put that into words?

I don’t particularly care for writing about my work because I feel I expose more of myself with words and I risk assigning specific meaning to my work. I’d rather leave it to individuals to find their own meaning in the art. For instance, if I took a picture of a pork chop, hung it in a gallery, and labeled it “Pork Chop,” most people wouldn’t look twice it at. They’d think, “Yep, that’s a pork chop alright.” On the other hand, if the same photograph were untitled, people might think that metaphorically, I’m commenting on the carnivorous nature of man, or space and the passage of time. Subconsciously, I might be. You get the idea.

So even though labels are for jelly jars, I am expected to come up with titles and Artist Statements. So how to make them relevant without giving away the farm? In analyzing the connection between angels and prisons, I gave up early on obvious titles, e.g. “Angels and Devils” (while there were angels in my photographs, the devils were only implied); “God’s Servants and Satan’s Minions” (a bit harsh on the shoplifters and other petty criminals who occupied Eastern State); or “Angels and Penitents.” That last one had promise.

Crime and Punishment in the Victorian Age

When the prison opened in 1829, its founders believed that solitude would “make the criminal regretful and penitent” (hence the new word Penitentiary added to our language). Legislation specifying “separate or solitary confinement at labor” was passed. This correctional theory, as practiced in Philadelphia, became known as the Pennsylvania System, and it became world-famous.

In 1913, The Pennsylvania System of confinement with solitude was abandoned at Eastern State. The system had actually broken down decades earlier, prompted by Charles Dickens’ criticism of the philosophy. He visited the United States in 1842 to see Niagara Falls and Eastern State Penitentiary–two wonders of the Victorian world. He later wrote, “The System is rigid, strict and hopeless solitary confinement, and I believe it, in its effects, to be cruel and wrong…”

So Eastern State’s original concept of freedom (from criminal behavior) through confinement, failed. Stone walls, like stone wings, fail to ascend the arc to freedom.

Death and Mourning in the Victorian Age

Founded in the Victorian 1830s, both Eastern State Penitentiary and the great garden cemeteries like Laurel Hill (Philadelphia) speak volumes about American societal beliefs and norms at the time. Both are examples of our attempt to come to terms with the undesirable realities of death and crime–we confine them both in solitude. We reward them with burial and imprisonment, respectively –”interment” vs. “internment.” Both Eastern State and Laurel Hill were architectural wonders created in a rural setting–Philadelphia had not yet grown to reach them. Penitence and mourning practices both reached stellar proportions in that era (when a family member died, the official mourning period usually lasted a year, during which time ritualistic wearing of black clothing was observed), as did the epic flourish of angels and other ornate cemetery statuary.

Funny how the words interment and internment get confused. Interment is burial; internment is simply imprisonment. If you had asked the inmates at Eastern State to compare their confinement in solitude with that of those interred at Laurel Hill, they may not have thought the difference appreciable. They may have felt like the stone angels–or as T.E. Lawrence would say, “the living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God’s stage.” To me, cemetery angels vividly portray the tension between freedom and confinement that inmates at Eastern State must have felt. This tension between freedom and confinement–isn’t that what life is all about?

Cemetery and Penitentiary Photography
by Ed Snyder
July 3 – 31, 2006
Mugshots CoffeeHouse
21st & Fairmount Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19130
(267) 514-7145

See website for hours:
www.mugshotscoffeehouse.com

Mugshots CoffeeHouse in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia will be hosting a show of Ed’s work.

As Mugshots is right across the street from the notorious Eastern State Penitentiary, Ed will beexhibiting images from his ESP portfolio, in addition to his angel and cemetery photography. And you thought the cemetery photography was creepy…

All work will be for sale.

Photographic Society of Philadelphia

I’ve been making photographic images in cemeteries since 1999, and it has become my primary artistic interest. I’ve also worked mainly in black and white, though I’ve begun to branch out into color and digital, partly due to my involvement as a member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia. One of the challenges of being a member is the monthly assignment theme show – for instance, April’s theme is ‘humor’. Each month the results are displayed at Joe’s Coffee Bar at 11th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia.

Cemeteries in Color

It takes but a modicum of intelligence to realize that cemetery photography doesn’t lend itself well to such themes as Humor and Spring – cemeteries are dark, foreboding places, right? I don’t photograph puppies romping through fields of tulips, so the assignments are sizeable challenges for me.

But are cemeteries really that somber? Some are, sure. But garden cemeteries were created with the idea that cemeteries could be a nice place to visit, to walk, and enjoy the scenery and beautiful sculptures. Many garden cemeteries in the U.S. are arboreal wonders, so it’s difficult to avoid photographing gorgeous crimson azaleas or flowering pink dogwoods. Springtime can be rather breathtaking in a garden cemetery. When photographing splendor, however, its much more effective to use just a splash of color rather than allowing the bushware to take over the image. It creates a more balanced composition.

See for instance, the bronze patina sculpture of the seated woman from West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. The spare azaleas frame the statue and complement the greens in the image in a very balanced manner. The flowers add a comforting familiarity to the statue while maintaining the mysteriousness of the statue and its setting. Another useful tool for controlling color is to use a polarizing filter to make your skies bluer. Would the “Dogwood” photograph have the same impact if the sky were cloudy white? Probably not, which is why I plan my photographic outings in part on the weather and time of day. (See 11 Tips for Taking Pictures in a Cemetery for more on this topic.)

For a great book on color photography, check out Camera Craft: Landscapes.

Cemeteries in Black and White

Color photography is typically what comes to mind if you’re thinking about springtime, right? But for those who prefer black and white over color, capturing the essence of spring can present all sorts of creative challenges. Black and white images, as a rule, have to stand on their own since they don’t have color to help define the image for the viewer.

Monochrome images are an abstract impression of what our eyes see. In fact that may be why I prefer black to white to colo r. It allows me the flexibility of letting the viewer define a photograph on his/her own terms (which may also be the reason I dislike titling my work-titles in large part define).

The image “Sprouts” (to the left) is an example of a somewhat abstract image. You can see what is there (grass and tombstones), but the angle suggests a grave vantage point (pun intended). The scene is more than a snapshot – it represents new growth against a backdrop of death. The glow around the buds adds to this effect and was made possible by a front-lit sun at dawn. Monochrome, more so than color, also forces you to pay more attention to such things as white space and the juxtaposition of random and orderly shapes, all of which can make or break a composition.

For a great book on black and white photography, check out Black & White (Camera Craft)

Hand Colored Black and White

For another effect, you can blend color and monochrome. Check out the cemetery bunnies to the left and you’ll see what I mean. Around Easter, people in Philadelphia will post kitschy three-foot-high bunnies in the ground near the burial place of their loved ones. The photograph was originally made on black and white film. I hand-colored the clothes and hats with photo dyes to reproduce the original colors. I then scanned the photograph to create the digital image you see here. You can also do this in PhotoShop. The whole thing is very labor-intensive, but that’s a story for another day!

These are good resources for hand coloring photographs:

Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2

Book: The Art of Handpainting Photographs

Website: www.atplayphotography.com

Conclusion

Spring is a time of renewal. I hope this article gave you some new ideas to use in your photographic meanderings. While some images work best in black and white, others work best in color. The images of the dogwood-covered mausoleums and the azalea statue, for instance, would have much less impact without the splash of flower color. In my opinion the “Sprouts” image of the freshly grown new grasses against the tombstone backdrop would appear trite if it were done in color. But you might find an entirely new way of expressing this scene in color, one that would cause VanGogh to bow in homage. Its up to you as a photographer to visualize how the image would appear in both color and black and white, then decide which, for you, makes the best composition.

Check out more photography tips at PhotographerCoach.com.

There are lots of restaurants, theatres, and music clubs in the area. The weather should be getting warmer by April 7, so walking from place to place should be comfortable enough. Though many are cold, few are frozen.

My last show (January 2006 at InFusion in Mt. Airy) had a marvelous turnout, mostly thanks to the support and presence of all of you. I am humbled and grateful to those who, in the past, have found meaning in my work.

Here are the details:

“CEMETERY PHOTOGRAPHY” by Ed Snyder, at Big Jar Books. First Friday reception April 7. Show runs April 7-30. 55 N. 2nd St . Phila., 215/574-1650.

Why would a photographer want to see this show?

From a photographic perspective, there are many images that prompt the photographer to think, “How did they DO that?” For example, the lightning between the woman’s fingertips.

But there are other images that cause one to one wonder who they were trying to kid. See for instance, the cutout fairies pasted onto the photo or the “levitating” chair featured in this article.

Was darkroom trickery invented the day after Daguerre made the first successful metal plate photo in 1839? Remembering that Photoshop was not extant, this begs the question: if it was okay to do this in the darkroom and have it perhaps considered art, why is digital photographic manipulation looked down upon by photographic purists? What were the purists saying about Man Ray at the height of his career? But I digress.

Why would others want to see this show?
The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult was essentially a history how advocates of spiritualism in the late 1800s, early 1900s tried to use photography to provide proof of the otherworldly: spirits of the dead, dreams, auras, and thoughts. An interesting use of the technology, as the Met reminds us that a unique characteristic of photography has always been its ability to record the visible, material world with truth and accuracy.

What was the exhibit like?

The show consists of loads of double-exposure parlor tricks of 1850s ghost photographs and scores of photos from public and private collections throughout Europe and North America. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibit focused primarily on the period from the 1860s to World War II, when occult and paranormal phenomena were most actively debated and both supporters and skeptics used photographs as evidence. The photos are exhibited on their own terms, without judgment or comment on their authenticity. Along with the groups of lame photos of hands “floating” from between two curtains, there were several scientific sections. One showed electromagnetic emanations (Kirlian photography) captured on film, and another, radiographs (x-rays). Think of the skeptics Willhelm Roentgen must have had when he told the world about his discovery of x-rays in 1895!

During the unveiling of the science of photography, no one quite knew its capabilities. Could it document spiritual presence during a seance? Roentgen knew only that x-rays (he called them this because of their unknown origin) could be used to photograph the inside (bones) of a human. Was it really that far-fetched to believe that some other form of photography could document our thoughts? I’d like to leave this discussion by telling you what I heard a young woman tell her four-year-old daughter at the show: “…this was from before we knew any better.” Everyone starts out as an opening act. If the ridiculed phrenologists didn’t come up with their theories in the early 1800s, our later understanding of the functions of various lobes of the brain might not have happened the way it did. (For a fascinating account of this, see Stanley Coren’s book, The Left-Hander Syndrome.)

Three Shockers
The naked spiritualist Eva C. -Juliette Alexandre-Bisson’s photographs of Eve C., the naked spiritualist introduces us to a great gimmick, if nothing else. Nothing up HER sleeve…! She’s featured on the cover of the book with the luminous apparition between her hands.

Ectoplasm – Sort of a milky or fabric-looking substance that allegedly exudes from the body of the medium and can be transformed into materialized limbs, faces and even the entire spirit bodies.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – There was a photograph showing Conan Doyle’s (author of the Sherlock Holmes stories) son Denis with his dead father’s likeness appearing above him. Conan Doyle was a true believer in spiritualism. The photo above, “Fairy Offering a Bouquet of Bluebells to Elsie,” was “authenticated” by Conan Doyle!

Parlor Tricks (My Favorite Photo!)

It was easy enough to create such an image on film with a box camera having a 10-second shutter speed-the “mortal” holds the pose and the “spirit” walks into the scene, pauses long enough to faintly materialize on film, then backs out. But think of how creative and difficult this must’ve been! Think of the outtake plates! As Georgia O’Keeffe (1977) said: “The cliffs over there, you look at it and it’s almost painted for you, you think until you try.”

Is the show worth seeing?
The 120 stunning and surprising works in this exhibition reflect an attempt to reconcile the physical and spiritual worlds. Much of the show as well as the book, deliver sometimes beautiful photographs of us – people – and what we sometimes believe. You really never experience anything without learning something new!

Photo References

Albert Von Schrenck-Notzing (Germany, May 17, 1912)
The medium Eva C., cover of book The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult.
Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright (British, 1908-1986 and 1901-1988)
Fairy Offering a Bouquet of Bluebells to Elsie, 1920
Edouard Isidore Buguet (French, b. 1840)
Fluidic Effect, 1875
Eugene Thiebault (French, b. 1825)
Henri Robin and a Specter, 1863

After attending the exhibition, “The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult,” at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in November 2005, I realized I could never satisfy my curiosity for this work in a packed gallery. This was an entire subculture I knew nothing about! Luckily, the book was available.

The authors have extensive experience with occult photographs and consider it an important piece of the field’s history. (They are curators, also, of the exhibition.) While maintaining a strong non-judgmental position about the subject matter (spiritualism) in general, one of the authors, Sophie Schmit, is quoted as saying: “If I hadn’t considered at least the possibility of it existing,” she said, “I don’t think I would have ever been interested in doing the exhibit.” (Ref: strangeattractor.co.uk)

How is the book structured?
The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult is a huge coffee table book, containing over 200 color and black and white photographic reproductions. It is laid out in the three sections:

• Photographs of Spirits
• Photographs of Fluids
• Photographs of Mediums

Every time they click their Kodak pics, they steal a little bit of soul

This line from the John Prine song “Picture Show” alludes to the Native American belief that that the white man’s camera stole a piece of the subject’s soul. If we’re tempted to laugh at this now, let us realize that in the late 1800s, many people were just coming to grips with technology. X-Rays were just discovered. They could be used to see through your shoes to see if they were a proper fit for your feet! Was it really that farfetched to think that maybe technology could be used to contact the spirits of the dead? Many Americans at the time were hanging onto the memory of loved ones lost in our Civil War. Could they see them one last time? And the people providing this “service,” were they scoundrels or sincere practitioners? Who was in charge of deciding the limits of physical science? Was it an example of entrepreneurialism at its best…or at its worst?

The book is an interesting window into a period of American and European history (1870s – 1930s) in which many people thought that cameras had more than just the ability to capture the visible world. But indeed, it is entertaining. From a photographer’s perspective, it is simply amazing. From a historian’s perspective-who knew that Mary Todd Lincoln was a believer in spiritualism, held seances in the White House, and attempted to contact her late husband?

Content
This is not just a picture book. The authors of “The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult,” present an unbiased history of how advocates of spiritualism in the late 1800s to early 1900s tried to use photography to provide proof of the otherworldly: spirits of the dead, dreams, auras, and thoughts. It also holds fascinating accounts of the efforts of debunkers of the movement. Many luminaries were involved: P.T. Barnum, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the pioneering photographer, Jacques Henri Lartigue. Were these people loons? Were they duped? Feel free to decide for yourself. Any way you look at it, sensationalism sells newspapers. Consider Weegee, the pioneering tabloid photographer, and the entire genre he spawned! Was he good? Bad? Right or wrong?

The book appears to be comprehensive, without ever being tedious. All subjects covered were new to me, so they held my interest. Sure, you could easily believe charlatans would make attempts to dupe little old ladies out of a buck by offering to contact their loved ones in the great beyond-and there are many photographs of such parlor tricks. But I’d no idea people used to believe “fluids” called “ectoplasm” could be emitted from various orifices of a medium, with the medium’s thoughts projected onto the fibrous ectoplasm! See photo below, which was made by Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, the distinguished psychologist in 1911:

In summary, the book is most engaging. It informs us of a past many of us would choose to disbelieve. In fact, when I was at the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw a woman in her late twenties kneeling next to her four-year-old daughter, saying: “…this was all from before we knew any better.” The authors’ goal is to present the past to us, without passing judgment. They are quite successful in doing this.

Does it leave you wanting more?
The chapter on “Thoughtography” left me with the urge to try this, or witness someone doing it. The idea is simple: Aim a Polaroid camera up against your head, project a thought into the camera, and snap the shutter. Your thought appears on film! Makes me wonder why you even need to snap the shutter…like when the scam “psychic” phones and asks for your credit card number-shouldn’t she already know it?

Do I recommend the book? Absolutely! It is of interest to people of varied purpose-photographers, spiritualists, debunkers of spiritualists, scientists, historians, sociologists, and the downright curious. All those with telekinetic powers…raise my hand!

Photo References
Mary Todd Lincoln with ghost of her dead husband
Taken by William H. Mumler, 1870-75
The medium Eva C. with the materialization of a woman’s face
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/12/warner.php