INTERVIEW - JR Pepper - Spirit Photographer

JR Pepper - Spirit Photographer
How to photograph the afterlife
www.pepperart.com

When Spiritualism was all the rage, having a dead relative make an appearance in your portraits could mean big money for a shrewd photographer. By taking a ghostly looking photo ahead of time and then reusing the negative, our dark room magicians could conjure all sorts of hidden shades in their work.

Fast forward 100 years, and you can still find these grifters haunting America's cities, except this time they're capturing spirits for the sake of art. Most notable of the bunch is New York artist JR Pepper. For years now, Pepper has been recreating the photographic techniques of Mumler and Buguet, creating her own contemporary blend of spirit photography.

Take a look under the sheet if you dare.

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Can you tell us a bit about yourself, your art background, and your interest in spirit photography?
My name is JR Pepper and I'm an artist, photographer and freelance art historian. I have both a BA and an MA in art history in Surrealism. Probably most well known for my 'Spirit' photography found on Long Island Paranormal Society and Scottish Paranormal Society websites. Other photos of mine are found around the convention circuit and the first volume of the U.S. Gothic Lolita Bible.

I am a not so delicate mixture of elegance and caustic and I revel in bizarre research subjects.

What originally drew you to spirit photography?

I love the macabre, and photography is perhaps the most mystical of all the arts to me. I openly recognize that every photograph I take will never be recreated. The situation will always be different. The subjects will age. The time will have passed. Photography allows me to stop time, even for an instance and show people how I see the world.

Spirit photographs demonstrate the same idea, only its an open recognition of trying to find what you lost.

I had been in a History of Photography workshop in college and the professor showed a few "spirit" photographs and I became completely captivated by them. I started work on a project to create my own without using Photoshop and it's developed into a long withstanding passion.

What drew me to spirit photography was the fact that so many people truly believed in this as fact. Photography was a relatively new concept and, unless you were a photographer, you didn't know what tricks could be done inside the dark room. It wasn't a bizarre bit of gossip rag fodder either.

Educated folks actively believed in the photos, not to mention they were even defended in court cases and reputable magazines. Nowadays, nearly everyone knows Photoshop, but these images were done without digital manipulation. They truly make you recognize the power of the photograph back then, when photography was a sort of spiritual alchemy.

Can you tell us about any famous stories or cases? For example, what's up with the ghost of Abe Lincoln?

Probably the most famous person involved in spirit photography was an American by the name of William Mumler, who was originally an engraver. He happened to also be an amateur photographer. One day while taking a self-portrait of himself he discovered a ghostly figure on the final print. Mumler stated that it was his deceased cousin.

Soon afterward, he would move to New York to open up his own studio, specializing in spirit photography. The thing was, there were numerous cases where supposedly learned people came to investigate him and his process, but no one could find anything. Frankly its because they didn't know what they were looking for.

At the time, photography was a generally new concept and, unless you were a photographer, you had no clue what went on in the dark room. People were so desperate to believe that their deceased loved ones were safe on the other side that they didn't question it; even though these photos were a hefty (for then) ten dollars a piece.

Mumler was accused of fraud almost as often as he was praised. In 1869, he was brought to court and the infamous father of humbug, P.T. Barnum, was all too happy to debunk the ghost photos. Barnum believed that Mumler's photographs were a means to make money off of people's grief and even presented a replicated spirit photograph at the trial.

It was decided that in the end there was not enough evidence against Mumler, even though they revealed that his "ghosts" were actually photographs of living people.

The photograph with Abe Lincoln's ghost is probably one of Mumler's most famous images. Basically, Lincoln's widow entered his studio under the assumed name of Mrs. Tundall. The president's widow was a huge fan of Spiritualism, the belief in the possibility of communication with the dead. Mumler didn't realize who she actually was until he actually developed the photograph, which of course no one would have witnessed save for him. The image became widely circulated and only added to Mumler celebrity.

Can you recommend any good books that helped you learn about spirit photography?

Absolutely, there have been a number of great books in the last few years. Perhaps the most important would be the catalog that accompanied the exhibit entitled "The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult" by Clement Cheroux or "The Strange Case of William Mumler: Spirit Photographer" by Louis Kaplan.

After learning about the concept, what did it take to start experimenting with your own spirit photos?

Frankly, it didn't take too much. I gorged myself on any "ghost" photo I could find to get an idea of the atmosphere presented and did a few rounds of prelight shots before I did an actual shoot. I had an old Pentax film camera that I still shoot with that I just had to try it out. I can't stress the importance of a good tripod for photos like these kind of photos as well as patience.

Care to walk us through the process of how they created spirit photos and how you're able to make your own with today's technology? Our viewers are very DIY, so I'd love to share any good tips or techniques if possible.

It depends on what photograph we are talking about. Most of Mumler's images were done as a result of basically layering a secondary image on the original one from the sitting. The ghostly character would be an image that was less exposed or burnt out. Then when applied with the image of the paying sitter, the ghost would appear see through.

Another photographer named Eugene Isidore Buguet would use a similar method, applying a secondary image over the first. In one instance, he has a photo of a devil hovering above the model. The devil's face is obvious another print that had been tacked to a very voluptuous sheet, but the literal see-through effect made all the difference. All of this could have been done in the darkroom. Another method requires more collaboration between the model and the photographer. The sitter remains completely still while the ghost would step out of the frame, leaving a seemingly spirit presence.

I personally use a combination of both techniques in my work and, save for little thing here and there, stray away form digital manipulation. The obvious way to do it in a more modern ascethetic is using layers in Photoshop or some other imaging software.

How many times have people asked you, "are these real" and, how many times have you said "yes" just to see the look on their faces? Any good stories to share?

Believe it or not, I get that a lot. About once a month I get someone who found my site or my photos online either asking me if they are real, showing me their own "paranormal" photographs, or - my favorite - asking me if I can see ghosts.

Once, I didn't have time to get my prints done professionally so I wound up running to a nearby drugstore. When you go up to pay for the images printed they have to do a head count and the kid behind the counter, well I just saw his eyes bug out. "This sh*t real?" he asks me. I played along with it told him they were. He then felt the need to show the whole store after that.

Needless to say they are *ahem* interested whenever I bring film in now.

Where can we see your work?

My work is chiefly at www.pepperart.com, my randomly updated website, my myspace and a variety of places, namely about.com's paranormal section. I've also been featured on a few websites. One of my first series of spirit photos of a ghost boy went viral a while ago and its all over the place now as well.

Do you take commissions, and if so, what's the best way to contact you?

Yes, absolutely, not to mention I am always in need of models.

The best way to contact me is through my e-mail spiritlens@gmail.com or directly through the site. I am very much interested in hearing from anyone interested in my work!

Do you have anything new projects on the horizon?

Right now, I have been working on a few writing projects a few galleries here in NY, as well some band photography on and off, but frankly it always seems like I'm always working on something. The "Ghost Project" is where I want to put my main attention right now and it continues to be an ongoing thing.

Any closing words?

Special thanks to my two college photo profs for steering me into a much needed direction with my work, not to mention all the great musicians, artists, photographers and mad scientists who have willing and lovingly dealt with my eccentricities, and bizarre skull collecting habits.

Thanks a ton, Pepper!

Happy haunting!

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