Inventions -- Fiction; Older men -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
At the investigation Nathanial suggested that the presence of a camera,
introduced on the scene in a gentlemanly and courteous manner, was
enough to cause almost frenzied unlocking and unzipping by even the
most demure and prudish female. "Ladies," Nathanial said wisely, "love
to have their bodies recorded for posterity."
Oh, he was certainly a very evil and highly obscene old man--was
Nathanial Evergood--if ever you saw one.
But the full import of what his evil old soul and obscene little mind
contained would probably escape the casual observer, unless he happened
onto a tiny cubbyhole at the back of the rooms occupied by Nathanial.
This was the sanctum sanctorum, so to speak, of his thin little heart,
for here Nathanial Evergood guarded jealously a secret utterly beyond
belief.
He fancied himself to be something of an inventor. And he was, too--of
a sort. His ardent and relentless pursuit of photographic subject
matter during the years had led him into situations demanding full
knowledge of his craft, from a technical rather than from an artistic
point of view. Thus, this inventive turn of mind was given an able
assist by his understanding of the theory, optics and chemistry of
photography.
And now, he was just putting the finishing touches to the most
important project in his entire life.
Basing his plan of action on the simple optical theory of astigmatism,
Nathanial designed a lens. Astigmatism, he had learned, results in the
human eye, as well as in manufactured lenses of certain formulae, in
the failure of horizontal and vertical target lines to reach a common
focus. So his lens was designed intentionally astigmatic, allowing
focus to be brought on one group of target lines or another, but never
on both simultaneously.
To the front of the lens mount he added a front-surfaced prism and
a filter, carefully ground and tinted internally the precise color
complement of human flesh. He reasoned, quite accurately as it turned
out, that the prism would gather all the colors of light together
and converge them at the focal plane of the lens as pure white, thus
eliminating all color. But, at the same instant, the complement
filter replaced last the flesh color of the object focused upon, and
subsequently recorded on film.
Then, in one fell swoop, the lens allowed Nathanial to focus carefully
on one group of target lines (in his case, the female form underneath
its covering), automatically throwing an opposing group of lines out
of focus (the covering over the female body, in his case). The prism
was busily gathering together all color and converting it into pure
white light, while lastly, the complementary filter replaced the color
of flesh to the image, and finally to the photograph. You see the
possibilities, of course. By replacing the normal lens of one fine
camera with his invention, Nathanial Evergood was now equipped to
photograph in rich, natural color the female form-divine, unfettered by
any or all clothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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