Double
Exposure
A few years ago,
I ran a consultancy in the UK helping voluntary organisations to
register with the Charity Commission. I’d deal with all sorts of
organisations, from animal welfare to those championing rare medical
conditions.
One day, I got a
call from a group who wanted to register a charity with a very long
name. When I asked what they did, the reply was even more unusual.
They were a group of volunteer photographers who went into hospitals
to take photographs of stillborn babies, as a last memento for
grieving parents.
A couple of years
later, I was having a drink with an old school friend, and the
conversation drifted towards another friend of ours who kept a
picture of their stillborn child on the bookshelf. This disturbed my
friend, but I thought it seemed like such a natural thing. Having
been through all the same steps as any other mother – pregnancy,
morning sickness, childbirth – to then be expected to hide all
reminders so as not to make others uncomfortable. It didn’t really
seem right. Why shouldn’t you talk about it?
This sent me off
on a journey of discovery, focused on photography and our
relationship with mortality. Our desire to sanitise death is not
something that has always been. The fact that I was surprised there
was an organisation photographing stillbirths today says a lot. A
hundred years ago, everybody was taking pictures of the dead, and it
wasn’t considered strange.
Secure the
Shadow is split between Victorian Bristol and modern-day
Gloucestershire. It weaves together the evolution of photography, and
how we’ve used it to save precious moments from the ravages of
time.
The research for
this was quite intense. I’ve written about 1850s Iran, Iron Age
Ireland and 1930s Australia, but I must admit, the Victorian era
isn’t one I’ve always felt that drawn to. However, if you’re
talking about the invention of photography, it’s a time period you
have to visit.
I learned so much
that I never expected to. I can now list ‘spotting a genuine
post-mortem photo,’ on my CV. And there are a lot of popular fakes.
Several taken by Lewis Carroll, who had a creepy penchant for posing
young girls, including Alice Liddell, the original Alice in
Wonderland, as though they were unconscious.
Starting out, I
knew absolutely nothing about the chemical process of early
photography. I was more interested in the emotional development of
the characters than in photographic development. Thankfully, a few
lovely people were generous enough with their time to sit and explain
it all to me. One of those was Mike Robinson, a photographer who
consulted on Crimson Peak, and who very patiently explained to
me how they created the spirit photographs that Dr. McMichael shows
Edith in his study. I knew they weren’t real, but I didn’t
understand how they were done in the days before Photoshop.
A long time ago,
photographs were taken on a glass or tin plate, covered in chemicals.
As the chemicals dry, they become less light sensitive, so it’s
important to take a picture as quickly as possible. The plate would
be exposed, the image taken, the lens cap replaced. Then, if you
wanted to conjure ghosts, you’d simply drag in your actors and
expose the plate very briefly to a second image. A double exposure.
Because the chemicals were already drying, and the exposure time was
lower, the image would appear much fainter.
Very simple once
you know how it’s done, but imagine you’d never seen that before
and had no idea what cameras were capable of. You can forgive people
for being fooled.
It’s always
nice to learn something as you write a book, and a privilege to be
able to bring science to life through the stories we weave. People
often say, ‘write what you know,’ but I prefer the idea ‘write
what fascinates you,’ because you can always learn what you don’t
know along the way.
In 1824, a young man buttons up his redcoat and goes to war. Amidst the blood and devastation, he discovers a magical power which can save memory from the ravages of time.
1867 and a woman, living above a watch shop, meets two men who will change her life forever. As she ventures further into a world of séance and mysticism, she must decide whether to trust her own eyes.
In the present day, a rebellious artist finds herself photographing stillbirths for a living. At Little Angels, it’s not about what you can take from a picture, but what you can give.
The story of three lives, spanning the history of photography and our relationship with mortality.
Secure the shadow, ere the substance fades.
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