Black Hole

Exotic Photography

Trudi Lens

The recent sighting and snapshot of a moa in Arthurs Pass has led to further confirmation of a radical theory. For decades, photography historians and researchers into cryptozoology claims such as the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot have debated the existence of a "practice effect" principle governing the photography of unusual objects.

In essence, the theory suggests that all objects, living or dead, become "practiced" at being photographed and hence become better focussed and more comprehensible the more often their picture is taken. Significantly, the "practice effect" appears to be inherited by other objects of the same class. For example, humans as a whole now tend to photograph very clearly because so many photos have been taken of people over the years.

Evidence cited to support the theory includes the poor quality of much 19th-century photography, where many photographs were the first ever of their particular subjects. The same subjects photographed today tend to be perfectly clear.

Even more impressive in this regard are the early Hubble Space Telescope pictures, which are of remote and previously unseen celestial objects. Although taken only a few years ago, they are reminiscent of the level of quality apparent in last century's terrestrial photographs. Recent images delivered by the HST are substantially clearer, in line with the theory.

The clinching evidence, and that which is most commonly published due to the high public interest in the subjects, is photographs of exotic or unknown creatures. Researchers have long been puzzled why modern autofocus cameras, with zoom lenses and competent operators, should produce such varied results.

Typical film sequences show perfectly clear pictures of people, vehicles, buildings and scenery, followed by blurred and unresolvable images of space aliens, Yeti, sea-monsters or supposedly-extinct bird species. Image enhancement and analysis almost invariably produce no further useful information, suggesting a far-reaching obfuscation effect.

The proponents of the theory suggest links with Rupert Sheldrake's "morphic resonance" whereby the creation or adoption of some structure for the first time will make its subsequent creation elsewhere much easier.

Other links are cited with the "100th monkey" phenomenon dramatised by Lyall Watson, wherein the adoption of a particular food consumption habit by one community of monkeys led to its rapid acquisition by completely independent colonies. It is suggested that not only living creatures but also inanimate objects acquire the habit of being photographed through a similar mechanism to that operating in the monkey communities.

As far as cryptozoology is concerned, hope lies in the repeated attempts to photograph the creatures of interest. If we want better evidence of a live moa than that already provided, the best solution lies in asking the Department of Conservation to install thousands of automatically tripped cameras in the Craigieburn ranges.

While the first few bona fide images will be indistinguishable from blurry shots of deer or moss-covered rocks and branches, the time will come when an in-focus, crystal-clear picture will be produced, and the mystery will end.

Trudi Lens is a professional photographer who owns the New Zealand agency for a leading brand of automatic camera systems.