I am fascinated with the field of paranormal science. It intrigued me long before all the ghost-hunting shows made it the cool thing to do.
Everybody is a paranormal investigator these days. Watch out man, I'm a ghostbuster... ummm..ok
The people who claim ALL pictures of dust, breath and reflections to be paranormal phenomena are referred to as "dust-chasers" in some of the paranormal community. These investigators seem to capture loads of "evidence" at every location. And some of it is probably genuine.
Some insist that everything is a face. This is called "matrixing" where our mind puts together pieces to make sense, like finding a face on the moon or Jesus on buttered toast. Or maybe sometimes it really is a spirit manifesting. Dust and moths can appear as orbs in photos. This can be confusing when attempting to photograph the real thing (a ball of energy floating around). The so-called psychics do a disservice to those who have genuine psychic abilities when they go around claiming to be talking to Elvis or Michael Jackson to bring attention (and money) to themselves.
Then there are skeptics (like us) who look for scientific evidence. No matter how cool a picture might appear and how badly we would like it to be paranormal, if we have a reason to suspect otherwise we won't consider it seriously as paranormal. Unfortunately, that may mean some real evidence will likely be tossed out or thrown into the category of "entertainment" instead of actual evidence. And the majority of our investigations turn up nothing; but it's the ones that do that make it all worthwhile. Like, really really cool. Hearing a voice actually speaking into my recorder that I didn't hear at the time... that's just awesome!
The entertainment aspect of it all can be fun, and as long as it's done with respect to any spirits encountered I see nothing wrong. It may even help present actual evidence in a way that's easier to understand.
Photos of dust, bugs, breath, fog, raindrops, reflections, dirty lenses, over-exposure, motion blur, light play or even a hair or camera strap can all appear paranormal. But so could spirit energy. When exploring a scientific frontier, anything is possible.
Here are some of my experimental photos that could be mistaken for
or misrepresented as paranormal.
Eventually I will add photos of moths and gnats, but those aren't around this time of year. I tried dropping tiny bits of paper instead, but since they don't hover like insects, and just drop quickly down, they don't appear orb-shaped. They still look kind of cool though. I'm also looking for a pair of shoes with reflective stuff on them to experiment with.
The following are pictures of dust, hair/strap/finger in front of lens, steam/vapor, smoke and photographer's breath in cold weather... or... is that Grandma?
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| Breath |
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| Breath |
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| Breath |
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| Breath |
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| Hair |
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| Reflection (taken through window) |
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| Breath |
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| Hair |
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| Hair |
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| Hair |
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| Overhead Light |
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| Vapor |
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| Smoke |
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| Smoke |
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| Smoke |
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| Rain |
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| Vapor |
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| Vapor |
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| Reflection (taken through window) |
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| Camera Strap |
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| Vapor |
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| Reflection (taken through window) |
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| Steam |
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| Steam |
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| Steam |
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| Dust |
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| Tiny paper dropped |
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| Tiny paper dropped |
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| Tiny Bits of Paper |
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| Tiny bits of Paper dropped |
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| Dust (after shaking out rug) |
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| Hair |
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| Finger (looks transparent) |
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| dust |
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| Hairs (not animal spirits) |
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| Dust (after shaking out rug) |
