January 28, 2000

"The Photographic Challenge: Hidden Beauty / Hidden Meaning"
Joseph G. Barabe
Director of Scientific Imaging
McCrone Associates
Westmont, IL

In a slide / lecture presentation, Mr. Barabe will describe his use of microscopic and macroscopic techniques in his work to show information content most effectively. Subject matter will include authentic and fake works of art, spent bullets, Phoenician coins, historical artifacts such as the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid grave findings, and bizarre inclusions in manufactured items and food products. He most recently photographed each frame of the Abraham Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F Kennedy; his photographs were then digitized and sequenced into the film Image of an Assassination, produced by MPI Teleproductions.

Bio Sketch

For the past 10 years, Joe Barabe has served as Director of Scientific Imaging at McCrone Associates. Before that, Barabe was a senior scientific photographer at the University of Chicago Medical Center AV where, besides doing photomicrography and photomacrography, he made photos for posters, brochures and audiovisual presentations. He has also worked in commercial product photography and photographed weddings for John Howell Photographers in Winnetka. His work has been published in various scientific journals. In addition to being twice a winner in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Contest, Mr. Barabe has served as one of the Judges for the 1997 competition.

Currently he is studying art authentication microscopy with Dr. Walter C. McCrone. He has spoken and written on selected topics on imaging, forensic document examination, and art pigment identification. As an active fine arts photographer, he exhibited selections from his Around Suomi series at the Oak Park Public Library in September of 1999.

Report of SMSI Meeting of January 28, 2000

The After Christmas Christmas Party drew a full house, with dinner catered by Reza's followed by Joe Barabe's lecture on: The Photographic Challenge: Hidden Beauty / Hidden Meaning. Prior to the beginning of the slide presentation, Bill Mikuska made several announcements, including the date of June 10th for the annual SMSI picnic at York Woods South in Oak Brook.

Beginning his presentation with a slide of McCrone Associates taken from a seventeen foot ladder, Mr. Barabe lead his audience on a tour of wide ranging assignments his career as photographer has brought to him. Beer foam, cockroaches, caterpillars and brake drums present a variety of technical challenges where light, shadow and reflection must be controlled in order to produce the desired image. John Dillinger's positive death mask image was striking.

The deft use of filters and crossed polars made it possible to read all of the signatures on an old football, which turned out to have historical significance, while coaxial illumination produced sharp, clear images of the end of an inkjet printer. Images of various crystals taken with cross polarization revealed an apparent realm of abstract art, complete with intense colors. Actual artistic forgery became obvious when photographed with ultraviolet radiation and X-ray imaging, it was shown, can even uncover underlying layers of a particular work, revealing the evolving approach of an artist in the process of creating. A clever attempt to forge an official stamp in order to obtain political asylum, upon closer inspection turned out to be hand drawn.

Mr. Barabe closed his presentation with a few remarks about his assignment to photograph all frames of the Zapruder film of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, using 4 x 5 film. His years of experienced no doubt served him well in this challenging task.

Report submitted by John Macdonald, Recording Secretary.