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MALONE
MILLS
Night
Orbs
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Yellow night
2006
Chromogenic prints
35” x 44"
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For
the past year I have been attempting to photograph
orbs at night. What exactly are orbs? It depends who
you ask. Ghost Hunters or practitioners of the paranormal
might tell you that orbs are a place memory, or haunting
phenomena. Some people say seeing orbs is a way of
experiencing ‘ghosts’, or that they are
a separate life form. Some people think they are energy ‘building
blocks’ used by spirits or nature spirits themselves.
Orbs often appear as a floating ball of light. Usually
they are quite fast and follow an erratic flight pattern.
They can vary in brightness. Some are phosphorescent
and perceivable to the naked eye, while others are
dim and barely visible on film. They can be transparent,
semi-transparent or solid. They can be round, oval,
or uneven. But if you were to ask me, ‘what is
an orb?’ the simple answer is, ‘I don’t
know’. What it comes down to is this: No one
really knows for sure. There are many cases where a
person will try to photograph an apparition and the
developed photograph will instead show an orb. These
photographs were taken outside my home in Los Angeles
over a period of one year. Except for changing the
color and the intensity of the photographs in iPhoto,
I used no digital manipulation, no Photoshop or any
other technological, digital or lighting or camera-based
process to capture the orbs themselves. I simply photographed
throughout the dark night and this is what showed up
on the film.
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Blue \ Pink night
2006
Chromogenic print
44” x 35"
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I
see a lot of photography, but it is rare to see something
entirely new. What struck me first about Malone Mills'
Night Orbs was its scintillating beauty, but what captured
me was the startling singularity of Mill’s vision.
These photographs are a provocation, a mystery unsolved,
a question asked. Realism conscripted to do metaphysical
work. They allude to many disparate artists, times
and influences: Julius Shulman’s architectural
photographs, the flatness of Ed Ruscha’s seductive
landscapes with his unmistakable Southern California
iconography floating against the barely defined surface,
the spirit photography of Julia Margaret Cameron and
the turgid circles of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
And yet these photographs are unlike anything you have
seen before, the unmistakable signature of the only
person on the planet who sees things quite this way:
the triangles and squares of Mills' Cliff May house
in relationship with the circles defining the night
sky surrounding it, the fuzzy, almost fur-like light,
the quasi religious feel of the church-like structure.
Are the orbs manifestation of an uber-natural energy
these pictures ask, the dialectic between the unknowable
and the perfectly described.
Laurie
Frank
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The veil
2006
Chromogenic print
44” x 37.5"
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Far away place
2006
Chromogenic print
44” x 58.5"
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Little white orb
2006
Chromogenic print
19.5” x 29.5"
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Light
2006
Chromogenic print
19.5” x 29.5"
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Gold and blue
2006
Chromogenic print
31” x 40"
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1967
2006
Chromogenic print
29.5” x 38.5"
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Dawn three
2006
Chromoenic print
10.5” x 13.5"
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Dawn one
2006
Chromogenic print
10.5” x 13.5"
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Float
2006
Chromogenic print
44” x 58"
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Gateway
2006
Chromogenic print
44” x 52"
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The path
2006
Chromogenic print
44” x 52"
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