Welcome to The Orb Collection
A Living Archive of Spirit Orb Photography, Experience & Discovery
Some photographs capture a moment. Others begin a conversation.
The Orb Collection is at the heart of the Spirit Orb Institute of Research and Communication Society.
It is a growing visual archive built from years of firsthand experience, observation and photography by Aaron Turner Jr. and Jennifer Consalvo.
What began with individual photographs grew into something much larger: thousands of moments to preserve, compare, revisit, question and share.
These are not photographs gathered from around the internet. They are not images selected simply because they resemble what we call spirit orbs.
They are part of our story.
Every photograph has a history.
It is a living archive.
Over years of photographing spirit orbs, we began noticing photographs and sequences that invited deeper questions.
Why did particular forms appear repeatedly?
Why did some images seem to change from one photograph to the next?
Why did certain photographic experiences occur around particular people, places, circumstances or moments?
Could photographs taken seconds apart tell us something that a single image could not?
What happens when we stop looking only at individual photographs and begin studying the patterns between them?
Those questions became part of the foundation of SOIRC.
They were captured through our cameras, during our experiences, in the places we have travelled and lived, and through encounters that inspired us to continue looking, photographing and learning.
And every history begins with a moment.
The Orb Collection was created to be more than a beautiful collection of unusual photographs.
Today, the Orb Collection preserves photographs not merely as individual images, but wherever possible as parts of larger experiences: sequences, circumstances, observations and stories.
Photography as a Record of Experience
A photograph records light reaching a camera sensor at a particular moment.
What that photograph ultimately represents can be a much more complicated question.
Photography can produce familiar effects from dust, moisture, insects, reflections, lens flare, movement, focus and countless environmental conditions.
We believe those possibilities deserve consideration.
We also believe that experiences which remain meaningful, unusual or unexplained to the people who witnessed them deserve to be documented rather than dismissed.
SOIRC therefore approaches the Orb Collection with two things that can comfortably exist together:
Wonder and careful observation.
We share what we photographed.
We describe what we experienced.
We preserve what information is available.
We are not asking you to borrow our beliefs.
And whenever interpretation begins, we try to make that distinction clear.
We are inviting you to explore.
The Collection
Within the Orb Collection you will encounter photographs representing many years of firsthand exploration.
Some are quiet and subtle.
Some contain remarkable colour, structure or movement.
Some become especially interesting when viewed as a sequence rather than as a single frame.
Others are important because of what was happening before, during or after the photograph was taken.
Together, they form an evolving photographic record of our journey.
As SOIRC’s research and archives grow, photographs may be organized into collections according to their visual characteristics, circumstances, photographic sequences, locations, observations and other features that allow visitors and experiencers to examine them more closely.
Explore. Compare. Question. Discover.
The Collection is intentionally designed so that you do not have to arrive here believing what we believe.
Bring your curiosity.
Bring your skepticism.
Bring your experience.
Bring your questions.
Then spend some time with the photographs.
Our Commitment to Authenticity
The integrity of this collection matters deeply to us.
The photographs presented as part of our original collection come from our own photographic experiences unless another photographer or contributor is clearly identified and credited.
When the work, research, ideas or experiences of another person contribute to something presented by SOIRC, we believe that person deserves acknowledgement.
We will never knowingly present another person’s work as our own.
We also distinguish between what a photograph shows, what we experienced when it was taken, and what we believe it may represent.
Those distinctions matter.
They allow this archive to remain a place where spiritual experience, personal testimony, photographic examination and open inquiry can meet without pretending they are all the same thing.
The Stories Behind the Photographs
Sometimes the photograph is only half the story.
A particular image may have meaning because of who was present.
Another may belong to a sequence taken over several seconds or minutes.
Another may be connected to an experience that occurred immediately before the camera was raised.
For this reason, selected photographs within the collection will be accompanied by their stories, observations and available context.
Where appropriate, we may include information such as:
- the circumstances surrounding the photograph;
- sequences of images taken before and after it;
- observations made at the time;
- relevant camera or environmental information when available;
- enlarged details or comparative views;
- Aaron and Jennifer’s firsthand accounts;
- subsequent observations or related photographic experiences.
The purpose isn’t to tell you what you must see.
It is to give you enough of the experience to look for yourself.
Why Preserve These Images?
Because experiences disappear remarkably quickly when nobody records them.
Memories change.
Digital files are lost.
Old websites disappear.
Cameras are replaced.
Stories become separated from the photographs that inspired them.
And eventually the people who were there may no longer be available to tell us what happened.
SOIRC was created, in part, to prevent that loss.
By preserving the photographs together with their stories and available context, the Orb Collection can become something larger than either Aaron or Jennifer’s personal archive.
It can become a historical record for future experiencers, photographers, researchers and curious minds.
We don’t know what questions people will ask about these photographs fifty or one hundred years from now.
That is precisely why we believe they should survive.
An Invitation
Perhaps you’ve photographed something you couldn’t explain.
Perhaps you’ve seen orbs in photographs for years and never thought much about them.
Perhaps you’re convinced you already know exactly what causes them.
Perhaps you’re encountering this subject for the first time.
You Are Welcome Here!
SOIRC does not require belief as the price of admission.
We ask only for curiosity, respect and a willingness to look carefully.
Because this collection ultimately isn’t about convincing everyone to reach the same conclusion.
It is about preserving extraordinary experiences faithfully enough that the photographs can continue asking their questions long after the moment in which they were taken has passed.
Submit your Experiences
Questions, ideas, or a full brief on your orb experiences — drop us a line and SOIRC will get back to you within one business day.
Look closely.
There is more to explore.
Spirit Orb Institute of Research & Communication (SOIRC)
British Columbia, Canada