June 25, 2003

• You be the judge:
  I almost posted a different, more subdued, polite version of this on KaiOaty.  I even considered registering on totse so I could post it over there where the most interested individuals would be sure to see it, and see it sooner.  Then I realized that my original personal blog was where I want it and where it belongs.

  
  

  Some of my readers will surely think I’m brewing a tempest in a teapot, (and others, I’m sure, will find the whole subject insanely absurd) but this has significance for me.  Greyfox and I talked about it and he was totally mystified at the client’s response, or lack thereof.  It’s so on my mind that I’m even neglecting fresh new client work to air this old business.  (Sorry ’bout that, Sara.  Probably later today.)  So here goes… you be the judge:

  
  

  Greyfox did a kickass, totally impressive past-life reading for acero.  In reporting it to him, I said that it was unusual in the depth of detail and the fact that Greyfox even had a name (first name Mark and a couple of possible [Peters, Petrie, etc.] surnames) for his past incarnation.   Although it might actually be possible to track down birth or property tax records to place his family and his own birth from the information given (which is rare, indeed in this business), I suggested a way that acero might verify it to his own satisfaction.  I got the impression he didn’t even try.

  
  

  Instead, in a thread on totse, where another client of Greyfox’s was discussing his own reading, acero judged his (acero’s) reading to be, “totally lame and boring.”  Having observed Greyfox’s excitement at the reading in question when he came out of the shamanic trance after that journey, and having felt the excitement myself as soon as he related it to me, I did not want to let this pass unremarked. 

  
  

  The exciting thing was an intriguing scandal and coverup.  It seems that famous Civil War photographer Matthew Brady (Should I say “allegedly” here?) covered up the accidental death of his apprentice and took credit for the young man’s entire body of work, a collection of photos Greyfox judged to be “more than a dozen, less than a hundred.”  Greyfox said that Brady not only learned some tricks of artistic composition and techniques of exposure, etc., from him, but some of Brady’s best-known and most admired photos had been made by this young man who, unlike some other, later “assistants”, never got any credit at all.

  
  

  I had suggested to acero that he might be able to look over Brady’s portfolio and recognize his own work among them.  I mentioned that Greyfox and I have both had compelling experiences in museums when we encountered artifacts that we recognized from past lives.  Seeing such things can often trigger spontaneous past-life memories, as many others from Bridey Murphy on can attest.  For Bridey, a teacup was a significant trigger.

  
  

  I decided to see if I could, using a pendulum, determine for myself which photos were which.  I have a nifty, beautiful and beautifully responsive new pendulum (thanks, Deb), so I did an image search on Google for Matthew Brady.  At the risk of “contaminating” acero’s recollection with my pendulum’s results and my commentary (WTF, if he doesn’t care, why should I?), I’m posting the results here. 

  
  

  I was struck by contrast immediately.  Of course, contrast is to be expected between posed portraiture such as this shot of Jefferson Davis and battlefield photos such as the one below from Gettysburg, which my pendulum says was set up and shot by Brady himself.

  
  

  

  
  

  Now check the compositional similarity between the battlefield shot above and the more architectural one below, which the pendulum indicated was also shot by Brady.

  
  

  

  
  

  As a photographer, I find that horizontal strip in the foreground and the centered subject behind to be interesting.  I find corresponding similarities between compositions in my own portfolio.

  
  

  My pendulum gave me positive hits on three photos that it indicated were shot by Mark Petrie (and it also confirmed that his name was Petrie, not Peters or any similar name), and in the process of sorting out the Petrie coverup, it has also resolved a dispute over the maker of this compellingly evocative portrait of Walt Whitman which has been attributed to “possibly Matthew Brady or William Kurtz.”  The pendulum says it was Kurtz’s work.  Perhaps the contrast between it and the shot of George Armstrong Custer, below, was due to the difference in subjects; perhaps not.  I don’t think anyone disputes that Custer’s portrait is Brady’s work. 

  
  

  

  
  

  I wonder if it would pique acero’s interest to learn that his previous incarnation might have appeared on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine.  The pendulum indicated that the unidentified “assistant” sitting on the ground beside the standing Matthew Brady in this photo from 1863 is Mark Petrie. 

  
  

  Just in case acero would like to try the experiment of Googling Brady’s images himself to see if any of them ring bells, I’m not posting the three positive hits openly here, but only the links to them:  #1  #2  #3

  
  

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  • 4:36 pm
  • 13 Comments