meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Art of Photography

The Skotographs of Madge Donohoe :: Halloween Special 2016

The Art of Photography

Ted Forbes

Diy, Art, Arts, Visual Arts, Image, Technology, Photography, Tv & Film, Culture, Tutorials, Gadgets, Photographers

4.5942 Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2016

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

So its that time of the year – time for a special Halloween edition of the Art of Photography. In this video I have a special guest and we’ll be talking about the “skotographs” of Madge Donohoe (made between 1921 and 1939). Her vintage photographs of the occult personified the darker side of the roaring 20’s and paved the way for experimental “thought photographers” of the 1960’s. This video is sponsored by Squarespace. For a free trial, visit http://squarespace.com/aop and for 10% off, use offer code AOP on checkout.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

What's up dudes?

0:03.0

So it is Halloween and I figured I would do something that is somewhat

0:08.8

seasonally appropriate on the show today.

0:11.0

I'm not a big Halloween guy so I brought my buddy Jake here to help me out.

0:14.9

He's a little quiet and doesn't say much. There's been many instances since the beginning of

0:18.7

photography where photographers have tried to go beyond the ordinary, beyond what we normally can see, and in some cases have

0:25.2

tried to communicate beyond our perception.

0:27.9

This is widely categorized as an attempt to photograph thoughts.

0:32.0

What are you thinking? But of course since we're talking

0:33.9

about photography which by nature is a medium that is easily manipulated over the

0:38.4

years there have been many skeptics who have come forth questioning the

0:41.2

authenticity of these works.

0:43.2

So are these simply fakes or is it actually possible that these are messages from another dimension?

0:47.8

Madge Donahoe was an Australian journalist with particular interests in photography and in the

0:57.4

occult. In 1921 she began devoting herself to a craft that she called scotography from the Greek word scotos meaning darkness

1:05.4

and graphine meaning to write. She applied this term to photographs that she would make

1:10.4

without using a camera or light source.

1:13.1

Donahoe would practice scotography at night

1:15.2

as a ritual where she would place a photographic plate

1:18.1

on her forehead.

1:19.3

At this point, she would enter into communication

1:21.4

with what she referred to as quote unquote unseen operators.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ted Forbes, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ted Forbes and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.