Analysis report on the Holy Dew Spirit photographs
RESUME FOR ROBERT J. GRODEN
Robert Groden has been a photographic consultant for the United States House of Representative since 1975 and was Staff Photographic Consultant to the House Select Committee on Assassinations from 1975 through 1979.
He was called upon to testify about the photographic evidence in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy before three Governmental investigation bodies:
The Rockefeller Commission.
The Senate Intelligence Committee.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations.
Mr. Groden has been called to present photographic evidence as an expert consultant in an international bombing incident.
He has appeared as a photographic expert on over a thousand television and radio shows and is considered the world’s leading expert regarding the photographic evidence in the Kennedy assassination.
Mr. Groden is a journeyman Optical Effects Technician and photographic expert with 25 years of experience. He has worked on several major motion pictures and has been a consultant on several others.
Mr. Groden ran the special services division of two photographic laboratories from 1985 through 1989.
He was the Area Technical Supervisor for the entire eastern half of the United States for an International photographic laboratory manufacturer for three years.
ANALYSIS OF PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING WHITE AND RED BLURRED IMAGES.
March 12, 1994
On this date I have examined 10 photographs and 15 original negatives that display white, red and white with red blurry images.
The images appear to be random patterns and in most cases appear in single frames within negative strips of five each. In a few cases, the images are consistent in adjacent frames and in one case there are very similar or identical images in three adjacent frames.
The nine (9) strips consist of negatives identified as being manufactured by five different companies:
3 – Kodak Gold 100 Type 5095
2 – Fuji 100
2 – Sakura Color SP-V 100
1 – Color Super SR 100
1 – Lotte
LED imprinted dates range from 1988 through 1993. A few of these dates are confirmed by identical dates shown within the photographs themselves.
The photographs appear to be of a Korean man addressing crowds.
I have examined the original negatives and have concluded that:
1 – The negatives have definitely not been retouched. The blurred images are photographic in nature and have not been added after the fact.
2 – The degree of sharpness, lighting, and tonal definition makes me believe that these are original photographs and not duplicate images of any kind. They are free of any airbrushing and visual artifacts indicative of duplication techniques.
3 – The degree of focus of the blurred imange in all but one case is consistent with the image being much closer to the camera than appears to be sharper, it is darker red and appears to be farther away from the camera. This too is consistent with what would normally be observed.
4 – The blurred images appear to be totally random in nearly all of the negatives. However in one set of three adjacent frames in which the photographer has apparently not moved but is panning the audience from right to left, the image and its position within the frame, remain virtually unchanged on the negative as if the image were following the panning of the camera.
5 – In a few of the frames, the image appears to by cyclic as if starting and stopping repeatedly at a very rapid pace within the pattern of movement.
6 – At no time is the image identifiable as a particular shape, i.e. human, and there are in no cases any features.
7 – In some cases the shape is almost transparent and the camera sees through it. In other cases it appears almost opaque and the brightness masks the subject of the photographs to the point of virtually eliminating the subject within the photograph.
CONCLUSIONS
1 – The negatives themselves are genuine.
2 – The prints appear to be consistent with the negatives.
3 – Although the negatives are genuine, staging the photographs cannot be totally ruled out. However I feel that this is highly unlikely in view of the hundreds of witnesses present and the nature of the photographs themselves.
4 – The lack of any discernable shape or image makes it unlikely that anyone was trying to convinse the viewer that any particullar subject caused this phenomenon.
5 – I cannot identify the cause or source of the blurred images.
6 – Because of the random patterns an occurrences of the blurred images, I can rule out the possibility that they were caused by the LED character generators within some of the cameras.
7 – The nature of the blurred images eliminate lens flair as the cause of the images.
8 – Since the images occur within the frames themselves and never appear on the negatives outside of the frames, random light strikes can be eliminated as the cause of the blurred images.
9 – In eighteen years as a photo analyst, I have never seen an identical situation. The closest occurrences were reflections of flash from such items as flash cables, fingers or other such items in front of the camera lens. This does not appear to be what we are seeing here.
10 – I do not know what these photographs purport to show and I cannot determine the cause of the blurred images.
11 – I do not feel that computer image de-blurring would be of use in further identifying these images or their source, but it might be considered.
Sign of Robert J. Groden March 12, 1994