Odd and impossible requests for non-existent photos received by the Hulton Archive. A short film by Laurie Hill in association with the Getty Images Short & Sweet Film Challenge, narrated by Matthew Butson.
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Mike (Thanks to Simon Robinson)
Featured Comment by Hudson: "Reminds me of the Railroad Museum that got a request for photos of the 'Underground Railroad.' "
Thanks for this Mike!! Funny and to my surprise, quite thought provoking.
Posted by: Bill Corbett | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 08:05 AM
Once again, (as in the "A Rant About The D3X" post) someone making funnies about Adolf Hitler. And Jack the Ripper too! Where will this madness end, Mike?
Posted by: John Roberts | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 08:32 AM
When supermarket tabloids need a photo of Jesus, they just pull a file photo of Nostradamus and add a crown of thorns in Photoshop.
Posted by: Allan Connery | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 08:51 AM
Wow. That is an impressive piece of work. I'd like to see a documentary of the making of that piece.
Posted by: threadster | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 09:23 AM
Fun video with some very clever effects but I found the narrator's comments about WW2 dogfights odd as telephoto lenses (and modern flexible-based emulsion film as opposed to plates) did exist at the time and there is plenty of gun-camera photography from that era.
Matthew
Posted by: Matthew Allen | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 09:27 AM
In my youth I traveled in Mexico by bus, and there where always holographic color photos of Jesus where you entered the bus. I always got a laugh out of that.
Hoover
Posted by: Hoover | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 09:34 AM
Being Brazilian, I am used to see people joking about every and anything. We joke about tragedies, both old and new, about the pope, and so on.
I think being able to laugh in the face of tragedy is just as valid a way to keep your sanity as anything else. But that's just me, and I'm a crazy Brazilian, so don't take my word for it.
Posted by: Thiago Silva | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 10:53 AM
Gob-smacked! (And scratching head.)
Posted by: tim-j | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 12:38 PM
all good...
except what they should have said to the person asking for images of Battle of Britain dog fights is "sorry we don't have images of that, try the Imperial War Museum instead" eg:
http://tinyurl.com/586mnf
or from Camera-guns
http://tinyurl.com/5z9gzd
Posted by: tim darach | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 01:28 PM
Everybody knows what Jesus looked like. Why would we need a photograph?
:-)
Posted by: wtlloyd | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 01:40 PM
I know this will be filed under don't all "those" people sound alike, but Matthew Butson DOES sound remarkably like Ricky Gervais.
Posted by: Dave Kee | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 03:45 PM
Ha
That was excellent.
Reminds me of Steven Wright's bit about walking into an all night diner that advertises "Breakfast Anytime" so he ordered French Toast during The Renaissance.
Posted by: charlie d | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 05:10 PM
When I worked at a custom colour lab in the early 80s, we had a couple of employees who did retouch and airbrush work.
Of the requests I remember from photographers (supposedly intelligent pros), one was to airbrush out bushes from in front of a brick building.
The other was (I'm not lying here) was to airbrush off the clothes of a model, leaving her wearing only panties and bra.
Posted by: WeeDram | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 07:18 PM
Ken Rockwell is the only person to have photographed Jesus; unfortunately he ran out of film and had to use a piece of cloth instead.
Posted by: Evil_Sheep | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 08:43 PM
Didn't you guys see the article in the National Inquirer about the Ancient Photo of Jesus that was discovered? lol
See it on my website, photographed on a door in an abandoned house in rural Indiana!
http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_art/portfolio/neighbor/photopages/neighbor11.htm
Posted by: Chris Crawford | Wednesday, 10 December 2008 at 12:31 AM
Cute! Love the animation.
Apropos dodos, try this:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/waldrop/waldrop1.html
Posted by: erlik | Wednesday, 10 December 2008 at 03:22 AM
Hi,
Nice photo and video.I think being able to laugh in the face of tragedy is just as valid a way to keep your sanity as anything else.
Posted by: exploration xrf | Monday, 15 December 2008 at 04:01 AM