Adrien Mauduit - Phoenix Rising – Nov 2018

One of the many qualities that attracts me to photographs is their veracity.  The photographs captured by cameras are always pre-defined with the subtext of reality and that they really are just reflections of the world.  There is the implicit claim that at some point what was captured by the camera had to exist in front of the camera and so exist within the empirical world. 

Though, not just anything is photographed, but only scenes that are worth photographing.  As Sontag points out, the unusual, the odd or the strange are the subjects of photographs, whereas the usual, the mundane and the ordinary are normally overlooked.  Who wants to see an ordinary person walking down the street?  Who wants to see clear water in a bowl?  But a lot of people would want to see a Phoenix rising in the sky!

I am one of those people, I want to see the spectacular, the jaw dropping and the sublime.  I can imagine staring up into the night sky and seeing this magnificent bird take flight.  I imagine that I would feel dwarfed by it, have my very existence humbled by its presence and be totally overwhelmed with the experience.  It would literally be fantastic to behold.

But, and I hate myself for asking the question, how real is it?  Is it a case of being too fantastic to believe?  How much postproduction and manipulation have been applied?  Mauduit claims that it was a single shot and even provides the camera settings, f1.8 @ 1 second, ISO 6400, and I have no reason doubt his claim.  I want to believe that the Phoenix exists free to fly in the sky, but the claim seems just too fantastic.

I’m not saying that the scene didn’t exist, there is every chance it did.  But I can imagine that the colours have been boosted, a touch more contrast in places, a little bit darker in other places to suggest a shape.  Also, I’ve never seen the northern lights with my own eyes, so I do not know what they would like unaided, but I hope they look as stunning as this photograph.

This does highlight the wider claim of the photograph, that it is capable of offering a level of truthfulness that is beyond doubt.  But, can you imagine if this photograph appeared in a court of law to prove the existence of Phoenixes?  After all, a photograph of someone committing a crime, such as a mugging or stealing a car, would be proof beyond any doubt.  But of when it comes to mythical creatures, such as a Yeti, or a dragon or even a Phoenix, the truthfulness of a photograph is not enough. 

So, I will enjoy the photograph for what it is, a series of glowing lines that suggest a shape of a mythical being.  I do really enjoy looking at the photograph, I appreciate the wonder and the beauty within it, but I also appreciate that it is my cultural heritage that makes the glowing lines into the shape of a mythical being.