The Colmore Fatagravures - Faery Photo's

Just to get away from the doom and gloom and Obama threads for a bit, I thought I would throw this out there.

Not a whole lot of alternate information out there about them. you get your two sides to every story(bunk and debunk) but not a whole lot on these.

anyway take a look at the link and look at the photo's if anything they are artistic and beautiful to look at.

They are allegedly photo's of Faeries taken by a camera called the "Spectobarathrum"

By a man named Neville Colmore. some folks argue it was a hoax to generate publicity against the already public Cottingly Fairy story.

Anyway let me know.

www.flickr.com...

edit: for correcting the link.

[edit on 24-1-2009 by Mysterysoul]

[edit on 24-1-2009 by Mysterysoul]

www.mail-archive.com...@yahoogroups.com/msg01191.html

A little added history about them.

Mysterysoul...thank you so much for sharing that....I've never heard of this and it's completely fascinating. The images are so beautiful. It's such a huge pity that the original collection is lost, although i suspect that there is some fae interference there to hide what we can't handle yet. Or maybe they are just being secretive. I can't blame them at all.

Again...thank you so much...a star and a flag from me, and if I uncover anything else, I will post here.

Cait x

it would be fascinating to see if there is anymore information out there about them.

From what I understand the Cottingly Faeries were eventually reported to be a hoax. and these were prior to them.

As much information as i could find out about his apparatus he used, it utilized some kind of crystal to pierce the veil.

I am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to these things. but had to share the photo's if for anything they are very beautiful.

From what I understand during that time Photo manipulation was a rather long and arduous task, might not give alot of credibility to teh authenticity of the photo's but it's still something.

Thank you...wonderful photographs!!! Too bad more hasn't been researched about how this gentleman got them.

Don't think it's a hoax...try leaving a tiny bowl out at nite on your kitchen counter with just a wee bit of milk....it will be gone in the morning...the fae love milk as a treat....personally have done this and know it to happen.

ya know those little things you never can seem to find...even tho you know you just set it down in a spot...guess who borrows/keeps them????

The Fae are all around

~Holly

I stated I am a bit skeptical about it. but I have heard so many different ways to attract them or see them. Experimented partially with some methods. But there's always that nagging little part that says....Maybe.

And yeah it is unfortunate more hasn't been done aside from bringing the plates out. he allegedly left behind a Journal but most of it was destroyed in the fire.

Hi again...

I can't find anything elase online apart from many people dismissing this as a hoax, which it could well be, of course....but my instincts, like Holly's, tell me no. Intangible, I know, but there they are. Firstly, these images are quite dark, and almost disturbing, as well as really beautiful, which is a much more accurate representation of Faery than Cottingly's chocolate box covers. From a purely personal perspective, I know that images of the Fae which show themselves to us are not always cute, no matter how much we want them to be, but dark and light energy is absolutely vital in everything to achieve balance. I'm wittering here...my point is...as an expression of the dark, challenging side of Faery as represented in these images, whether genuine photos or human created artwork is pretty accurate, as far as I can tell.

It almost doesn't matter if they are real photos or not...although I would love them to be. I guess we have no real way of telling and I have totally nil knowledge of the techniques involved, but the theory of using a crystal to capture them also rings true...Fae and crstals are of the same earthy realm.

Just my acorns worth...!

Cait

reply to post by caitlinfae


I would expect alot of people to Toss them off as hoax, and yeah they could very well be. Problem is there isn't enough evidence to go either way with it. although the convenience of the fact that most of his work was destroyed in a fire, however, I had someone comment on another forum about the possibility of that being part of the Fae Folks intervention. Kinda reaching but...

Some of the photo's do seem a little "realistic" for lack of a better word. from what I understand he didn't quite have a relationship with the Fae folk, and there are some photo's where they look genuinely surprised or angry at being captured on "film".

As a Fae story...it seems ENTIRELY likely that they would have torched his work if they didn't like what he had done....although how some survived is not clear. The fae are hidden for a reason. Humans want to trap them and put them in jars. Of course they would be narked off!


Damn, and I so want them to be real. Is there any information on the method he used at all? Not that I would dare try it, you understand...

Cait

the best I could tell from what little was left in the journal, he used a method of photography that utilized a Crystal of some sort(information was vague as the type). there used to be a picture of a drawing of the camera but for some reason it's gone now.

I believe the method took several hours to generate a picture and not all pictures had anything in them.

other then that the more important factors on how the camera worked were otherwise destroyed.

Those pictures really does look an awfully lot like steampunk-inspired creations. They are quite beautiful and somewhat eerie, but they just seem like an art-project. The talk of forgotten techniques and such would be the faux past of the pictures, created by the artist.
Some of the fairies looks like small dolls, though that might of course be caused by them being from another reality, or whatever it is.

Not a hoax, just an arts project, at least to me.

I would be inclined to believe that. I do agree some of the entities in the pictures do have a bit of a doll like essence to them.

and I beleive there is a couple photographic techniques that can make things look smaller then what they are..

digital-artist-toolbox.com...

I wouldn't be surprised if it was an Art project considering the lack of Information out there beyond what the person working on the photo's has presented.

I hate to burst your bubble here, but the reason the "wee little bit of milk" is gone in the morning is because of evaporation, plain and simple. It has absolutely nothing to do with magic faeries or pixie dust.

This art is nice to look at, but that's all it is... art. Those are not real photographs of any mystical creature; just someone's wild imagination.

I don't know how anybody could see this and have a debate in their mind whether or not it was real or fake. It is purely artsy photography. The killer was this pic:

www.flickr.com...

So, while nice to look at, this should never be construed as an actual topic worthy of any deeper insight than what it is.. which is photoshop'd photographic art.

reply to post by Mysterysoul


ALL PHOTOSHOP!

These kind of pictures, doctored or incorporating children's book images were common in the late Victorian era into the 1920s. You can still find them as collectible postcards. Commonly the large negatives were cut up or the plates etched.

I remember when living in England in the 70s a large feature article in, I think, the Sunday Times magazine. A reporter located one of the girls in the famous fairly photos, in her 80s. She admitted freely how her and her sister posed for a series of outdoor scenes that later had fairy-like figures with wings added by the photographer.

Welcome to the Photoshop of 100 years ago.


Mike F

Originally posted by metro
I don't know how anybody could see this and have a debate in their mind whether or not it was real or fake. It is purely artsy photography. The killer was this pic:

www.flickr.com...

So, while nice to look at, this should never be construed as an actual topic worthy of any deeper insight than what it is.. which is photoshop'd photographic art.

Well, I do agree. The Lore and legend behind these photos is pretty amazing, and in first light if a Firm believe in the Fairy people were to see these without much else to back up the story aside from a few bits and pieces it would strengthen their belief.

For me the picture that gave it away the most was this one:

www.flickr.com...

The typeface, and Shadows were too crisp and clean. The text seemed too modern to be something of the early 1800's.

Although, not a topic for a Lengthy discussion, it was a nice break.

reply to post by mmiichael



Yes, that was the Cottingly Fairies, it had been quite popular in it's time till as you said the girls finally admitted to posing and was exposed for the hoax it was. Again Very beautiful pictures and I think for it's time the photographer did a wonderful job with the technology he had.

Originally posted by Mysterysoul


Yes, that was the Cottingly Fairies, it had been quite popular in it's time till as you said the girls finally admitted to posing and was exposed for the hoax it was. Again Very beautiful pictures and I think for it's time the photographer did a wonderful job with the technology he had.

Thanks for the confirmation. Arthur Conan Doyle was caught up in this and believed they were real.

As I recall, the writer managed to find plate pictures from 19th Century children's books that were integrated with the posed shots of the girls.

The validation of ghosts and fairies supported by photographic evidence was a precursor to the high tech modern version - the search for aliens.
Why there is such a compelling fixation with finding evidence of non-human life forms is yet another mystery.


Mike F

reply to post by mmiichael


I guess it's just human nature to seek out the unknown. The unfortunate thing for seeking evidence for life beyond us. is when pictures like these and the Cottingly fairies pictures, that are are clear and precise, always end up being show to be hoaxed.

then you end up with Blurry, and or distorted pictures of purported aliens/ghostly beings that can't quite be considered "smoking gun" type evidence. it tends to frustrate truly finding the answers.