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March/April 2005 Cosmic
Photographing the Paranormal

by Leonore "Lee" Sweet, Ph.D.

author of How to Photograph the Paranormal

Dr. Leonore Sweet

My entire life I have been seeking the non-existent "one true religion." At twenty, a near-death experience from a car accident left me knowing I had been in that peaceful realm before and would be again. This led me to the study of reincarnation first, then channelers, the "bibles" of current and ancient religions, hypnosis, manifestation, many churches and even more classes – anything to feed my spiritual hunger.

Still craving answers thirty years later, I enrolled in the doctoral program. As if on cue, when it came time to decide upon the topic of my dissertation, I took two undeniably paranormal pictures and became a woman obsessed. I had to know what these critters in my photographs were. Nothing and no one could have stopped me! Eventually, I found these light forms appearing in pictures worldwide to be mystically tied to the spiritual answers I had been seeking all my life.

Years of studying everything spiritual and seeking answers led me to the orbs, vortexes and ectoplasm. They have shown me how absurd I was to ever think I knew diddly squat. They have persuaded me that they are all around us but no one knows for certain what they are. They may even be products of our individual and collective thoughts and intentions (the elementals of ancient religions) and be the very mechanism by which we create our own realities.

In a convoluted way, my lights have demonstrated to me how reality (or the lack thereof) is created by thought, intention and emotion – that is, belief. I certainly don’t claim to have mastered this theory. I don’t think anyone can in our present circumstances.

At first it seemed clear that these light forms showing up in my photographs were ghosts or spirits and they definitely appeared most often when I visited places of the dead. Then I considered the possibility of there being guardian angels, and they began appearing around my grandson when he was in danger, and they seemed to be pictures of the same orb with the same markings appearing repeatedly. When I became bored with orbs, more interesting ectoplasm and vortexes made appearances.

At times the light forms seemed to be toying with me, appearing in comical spots in photographs. Often I found myself doubting their existence and dismissing them as pictures of dust, moisture, lens flare, spider webs and such – and many of them definitely are camera flukes. My pictures would then become practically orbless. My faith was restored when I found references to light forms everywhere – from religious and esoteric texts to children’s movies. "The eyes of the Lord" of the Christian Bible took on a whole new dimension!

Orbs are found near crop circles, in near-death experiences, and are described by hypnotized subjects as the form we take between lives on Earth. Psychics have been seeing and describing these light forms for centuries. It was as if I was being led to all the possible explanations, one by one, and I felt duty-bound to write about my discoveries.

Visible lights displaying many of the characteristics of the invisible spheres in photographs have been seen throughout history in every country. I found nearly 200 names they have been given, including ball lightning, earth lights, ghost lights, Will-o’-the wisps, and UFOs. I found all these visible lights to be more alike than different.

A group of Italian physicists and Norwegian engineers have been studying the Hessdalen Valley Lights near Roros, Norway for years and have found them to be elusive and unpredictable. They blink on and off constantly, pulsate, change shape and eject smaller balls of light.

When these lights blink off, are they the same lights that are appearing in photos? No one knows. The invisible lights are thought to dwell in the infrared and/or ultraviolet ranges that the human eye cannot see. Digital cameras, certain films, some psychics and many animals, though, can see these "invisible" lights.

I think the ectoplasm of today may be the same phenomenon that was associated with mediums during the spiritualist era. Orbs and ectoplasm have been appearing in pictures since photography was invented. As with everything paranormal, though, a few cases of fraud discredited all ectoplasm to the general public who, out of fear of the unknown, will believe any reason not to believe in the paranormal. Decades ago, no one accepted UFOs because there were no pictures of them. When photos were presented, the skeptics demanded videos. Now that videos are a dime a dozen, they demand more proof. Fear prevents many from accepting anything paranormal.

Ed Vos of the Netherlands, who has taken photographs professionally for over 30 years, runs a website called "Dutch Light Orbs" (www.dutchlightorbs.nl/) and claims he has never gotten a light form in any picture taken on the job, but often gets them when he is intentionally seeking them. The photographers who have seen my photos, including an entire club of pros and a computer graphics expert, could think of no logical explanation.

The camera manufacturers have no consistent answers regarding the light forms. One claims orbs are the result of the digital camera filling in missing pixels. Another blames the random white spots on the internal flash being closer to the lens causing "lens flare", especially in dusty environments. Yet another can find no explanation for the "image quality problem". In other words, no one knows for certain.

To get paranormal photographs, you need to seek them and believe they are there to be gotten. The only emotions are love and fear. Don’t fear the unknown – embrace it! Take your head out from the sand and reach out to the unseen world. Buy an inexpensive digital camera and take pictures of everything, everywhere with the flash on. Dark backgrounds will increase your chances, but don’t limit yourself to night pictures.

Experiment with your camera to determine how dust, moisture, hairs, spider webs and such appear when they are close to your lens. Take pictures of your pet when he seems to be paying attention to or batting at nothing. Use your intuition. Don’t think about where the light forms are. Feel where they are. There is an exciting other world to explore and enjoy. Seek it and thou shalt photograph it.

Dr. Leonore Sweet will be at the August Moon in Vancouver, WA March 15, 7-9pm, ($5 at the door) to discuss her book and sign copies. With actual photographs, she will demonstrate how to distinguish between camera flukes and legitimate paranormal photographs. For further information, contact Sandra Nelson, 360-901-6343 or sandra@ascension-sanctuary.com.

Dr. Sweet is the guest speaker at the Bluebird of Happiness Club meeting in Portland March 23, at Body, Mind, Spirit. Contact Sandi Buchanan, 360-260-1890 or Sandi@newconnexion.net.