The death of the orb mystery
I have been photographing orbs since capturing my first ones near Menindee Lakes in June. I was beguiled by the idea they may have been associated with consciousness and have photographed many. I have shown the prints to others and got the usual two responses: Fascination and curiosity or disdain and lack of interest ("clean your lens" and "it's dust" comes to mind).
One skeptic sent me a link to The Orb Zone. The author states: "The 'orb zone' theory of orbs is that orbs are out-of-focus airborne particles (e.g. dust). However the technical explanation is fairly complicated."
I dismissed his argument at first because it meant the orbs needed to be in out-of-focus zones, whereas they appeared to be away from the camera near other objects.
I based this presumption on a single photograph in which a friend and I, both shooting the same scene, caught orbs at about the same time. And given our relative camera positions, it was conceivable that they were the same object, well away from the camera and in the field of focus. However, being a sole example and given my recent experiment, that now looks to be a coincidence.
This morning I was sweeping the floor and gave the broom a dust off. It created a lot of dust and, since the adjoining room was pretty dark, I decided to do a test.
I set up the camera on a table and put it on timer. A second before the shutter triggered I held the broom 20cm above and 20cm in front of the lens and ran my hand across the bristles to release some dust. The results show structures identical to those found in all the orbs I have captured so far, even a nice coloured one. Although they often have a vaguely "focused" appearance the ones in the experimental pictures I took this morning are likely all in the out-of-focus zone (ie close to the lens).
I found I had become attached to the theory that they were emanations from the cosmic soup or better still ... emanations of consciousness itself with mysterious links to this world. (Crop circles come to mind). It was deflating to find such a prosaic explanation but I know the world has many more mysteries to wonder at. Sadly I don't think this is one of them.
Another pic
1 comment:
I really admire your willingness to test the Orb Thing, particularly when it means deflating what you/we hope is something mysterious within the cosmic realm. While some are ready to dismiss EVERYTHING and others remain skeptical but open to accept the unusual and still others who believe far too readily ANYTHING AT ALL that hints of cosmic intelligence, I deeply appreciate your honesty re the desire to believe and equally your honesty to declare the outcome. However, with the DVD on Orbs recently lent to me there's obviously quite a few others who've gone to enormous lengths to prove there's more to the Orb than meets the lens. (i've yet to watch it). Returning from India friends have shown with joyous incredulity the amount of orbs they captured unwittingly in group photos etc. Engage with them about your findings - though you know almost everyone will adhere to what they want to believe - dust or cells of information - who knows ? There's a lot more to dust than we're likely ever to comprehend!!
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