April Fools: Loch Ness Monster emerges

Somewhere between photojournalism, hoax, and darkroom comedy: a newly “rediscovered” silver gelatin photograph was found of the Loch Ness Monster.

While working in the darkroom on my chemigram series, Ethereal Echoes, I had a happy accident that produced what is, effectively, my version of the infamous 1934 “surgeon’s photograph” of Nessie—only this time, conjured entirely from chemistry, light, and paper rather than anything in the loch itself. The resulting gold‑toned silver gelatin chemigram looks uncannily like a Nessie sighting, and it slots neatly into my long‑term study of humans, animals, and humor: how we project our fears and fantasies on nature and photographs.

It also feels very 2026. In the age of AI image generation and deepfakes, the Loch Ness Monster has returned to the place it has always thrived—not in the water, but in the manipulated photograph. This print treats Nessie less as cryptid and more as a recurring visual glitch in our culture: a monster that keeps resurfacing every time our trust in images is under strain.

Nessie 2.0 by R. J. Kern, Gold-toned silver gelatin chemigram, 8 x 10 inches, 2026