Victorian Photoshop: John Hallowell and Fifteen Other Faces (1901)
Spiritual photography, like the images of the dead captured by Mumler, tried to convince the grieving family or the public that the photographer or the camera has a special method of reaching the deceased. Mumler’s images and technique were so convincing, they weren’t debunked for years. But some of the images are, to be polite, less than convincing. Perhaps John Hallowell was not actually trying to imply that these “faces” were spirits; as the faces were well-known photographs and paintings of famous people.
Maybe Hallowell tried to prove how literally anyone could be superimposed into a picture, especially since trick photography was quite popular at the time. Or perhaps he was trying to count himself among greats such as George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Queen Victoria, who had passed earlier that year. His motives uncertain, this ‘spirit photograph’ is one of the more unusual entries of the era.
