Image Fulgurator

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Today’s digital age poses the question: what to do with that now archaic 35mm Konica? Foregoing the more obvious options (e.g. paperweight, object to hurl at feral cats, stocking stuffer, etc), Berlin-based art student Julius von Bismarck turned his film camera into a photo hacking device that he calls the Image Fulgurator. When pointed toward another photographer’s subject, the Fulgurator makes an image or message appear within that photograph. And although Bismarck’s über-beard may suggest otherwise, there’s no wizardry at work here. The device is quite simple: a negative that has already been developed is loaded back into the camera. A built-in flash sits behind the negative and is triggered when an unsuspecting person’s own camera’s flash goes off. This projects the negative’s image onto a surface, and although the eye can’t see it—surprise!—some fool’s vacation pictures are forever tainted. While the pranking possibilities are endless, Von Bismarck maintains that the fulgurating is all for the sake of art. The video on his site shows him hacking into tourists’ photos at the former border between East and West Berlin with the message, “Hundreds of people died last year by trying this at the US/Mexico border.” Privacy issues aside, the guy deserves props for making a real statement with his trickery. juliusvonbismarck.com

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