[UA] Edward Kelty

[Peter Amthor]

Renunciation does seem like a pretty obvious choice here.  But I am going to 
try and go outside of the norm for a theory here.

Being a photographer from that era he probably knew a lot about the inner 
workings of cameras, how to fix them and maybe how to build them.  Lets 
assume he knew how to build them.  Perhaps he was unknowingly a user of 
machanomancey in a very specific narrow field of mechanics.  Only cameras.  
Each time he built one he burned a little memory without realizing it or 
being able to choose what memories were burned.  The power the cameras got 
was their ability to take those breathtaking amazing photoes, quicker 
development of film, less time the person had to pose and all that.

He was always working on his 'masterpeice' of a camera.  When he finally 
finished it he burned a ton of memories.  Those of his falling in love with 
his wife, of his childs birth, of his knowledge and learning of how to get 
the right picture.  Suddenly finding himself out of love with the woman he 
lives with and children that he has less of an attachement to know would be 
quite a blow.  But suddenly not being able to get the picture.

That was what sent him over the edge.  He left and never touched a camera 
again.

Now that would mean several of his cameras may still be out there, along 
with 'the' camera, his final one he built.  Since it burned so much of his 
memory it must have some powers to it that nobody has thought of.  Wonder 
where it is.

Well there's my thought.  Again trying to go from the normal train of 
thought on this one.


PeterAmthor
http://peteramthor.darkgod.net
Cenotaphium Vol III
http://home.usmo.com/~jnixon/cenoindex.html

>5. Does Mort have any golf courses? If not, >where do all these executives 
>spend their >weekends?
>- Kryptik Fysh
They are probably busy doing their 18 holes with the help of the skin trade.
Andreas







>
>Okay, so Friday's Chicago Trib ran a piece on Edward Kelty.  You may not
>know the name, but you've almost certainly seen some of his photographs.
>He did a lot of circus photos in the 1920s and 1930s, including the famous
>"Congress of Freaks" and that picture of the elephant picking the guy up by
>his head.
>
>Kelty served in WWI, apparently surviving some fairly hairy shit, including
>the flame-wreathed sinking of his transport ship.  The only objects he
>saved when fleeing that doom were his photos.  So, the guy cared about
>pictures.
>
>Then he gets a job taking circus pictures and develops an eye that experts
>say is outstanding and nearly unique, a photosensibility which drives
>collectors even today.
>
>He gets married, has two sons, never bothers to divorce his wife but
>becomes estranged.  He leaves her in New York and moves to Chicago.
>
>Chicago is where his story gets weird.  And obscure.
>
>Because no one can find any evidence that this man, who was so passionate
>about his craft, ever took a single picture after moving to Chicago.  Nor
>can anyone find evidence that he KNEW anyone in Chicago when he moved
>there.  Apparently he worked as a vendor at Wrigley Field.
>
>So.  What can we, as good UA goobs, do with this strange character and his
>mid-life transformation?
>
>1) Was he a Chronicler who saw something so horrible that he developed an
>incurable phobia of photography?  (It does seem that he was a problem
>drinker.)
>
>2) Was he cursed to die the next time he took a picture?  That's the route
>you go for a good novel, and then establish the image he had to capture
>that was so compelling he died for it.
>
>3) Possession?
>
>4) Renunciation?
>
>Discuss.
>
>-G.


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