Gyula Pauer: NATURAL (Proto-) PHOTOGRAPHIC EFFECT
- How was it possible and how was it impossible -
It is a well-known fact that light-sensitivity, a major characteristic of photo-emulsion is preserved by the white of eggs in a natural condition; theoretically any kind of egg white is capable of tanning and turning brown when exposed to the wind or the sun. In this text I will prove that the history of photography goes back several millions of years in time. Here is a brief reconstruction of what possibly happened: it all starts by presuming that there was once an extremely hot proto-summer. On the southern peak of the Great Slate Mountain a dinosaur is searching for sustenance. He is slowly ascending along the gravely mountain slope. A dry avalanche of loose slate falls from underneath his foot - who would claim this might not have happened? - but let us return to the image.
The large sheets of slate torn out of the hillside dissolve into further thin layers on sharp protruding terraces. The cliff now looks like a destroyed tower of cards.
When taking a closer look, a piece of stone, approximately having the shape of a curb-stone (DIN A/4 size), hits our gaze; it curves from the claw of the starving dinosaur and after a couple of somersaults downwards, eventually, three or for meters below, its edge crashes a wide terrace and falls into four or five pieces.
The thin plates that are very much alike falling on top of each other formulate a solid tiny box that is enclosed. There is nothing peculiar about this either: who knows, how many times it might have happened a day.
In these corners lasting for a relatively long time paleo-ducks had nests. The dinosaur, finally capturing one of these huge duck eggs, by complete accidence slips and gets stuck, his claws breaking the eggshell. He can only save the yolk.
The white, released from the broken pieces of the shell, drips on top of the previously formed box, and through a thin crack wanders further inside, where it falls on the hot bottom and dries there as a patch.
The crack was opened when the thin layers of slate broke on the area of a few millimeters.
The sunbeams reach through the tiny crack and the temporary camera obscura takes a picture of its creator: a dinosaur upside down as it is crawling back up on the hillside lazily, while still licking the remnants of the yolk from its claws. The image is fixed: as the tower of cards gets further destroyed, the photo might come out. Although since nobody is interested, it might as well mix with the debris. It might still be there ... but this might not even be the way it happened. Maybe the egg fell on the hot terrace first and only later did the pieces of stone fall on it.
It is all the same. One might find millions of thin plates of slate with tiny slots on them during a trip. These Pieces of debris store incredible secrets. But who cares?
/The discovery dates from the times when I was experimenting with how to expose an image on the surface of stone with sunlight in Villány. 1970-72/