Land of Illusion

A fairy tale land of reflections.

Land of Illusion

Cityscape Underwater

Icy reflection.

Cityscape Underwater

Eyes in the Back of his Head

The world is passing him by, but he sees it all.  

Eyes in the Back of his Head

Standard Variations on a Backdrop

In the street photography practice of backdrop with variations, that is finding a nice background and then waiting for the actors to enter the scene.  Here is an example.  

Here is the backdrop.  I particularly liked the lights built into the scaffold being reflected.  

Wet Walk

Like most shots, there is an improvement when you add a focal point.  This is generally a person for my street shots.  The red shoes and the reflection add some pop.

Skirting the Wet

Then there is the black and white alternative.  

Avoidance

Decisive Moment "variation"

It had rained earlier in the day, but it was clear now.  There were still splashes of water around the city. 

I was attracted to the reflection of a billowy cloud in this puddle. If I was a perfectionist, I would have removed that little blue object near the bottom of the frame but I didn't notice it and truthfully didn't care that much as it was pretty much an exercise in technique not intended as an artistic pursuit. 

But, I've had some luck taking shots of people reflected in the mirror of the water of puddles.  The symmetry can be interesting, also the texture from the water can create some abstract illusions. 

So, I parked there and pointed down.  A few people, as they passed, looked down and were puzzled at what I was focusing on.  Little did they know that it might be a picture of them (or more likely their feet).

The subject can take on a surrealistic effect if you flip the photograph upside down.  Here's an example, (I left the foot in the frame here to show the original). 

Here's what it became. 

Anyway, I continued taking shots at this particular puddle, keeping the feet in the picture in most cases.

I've written before about the term the "Decisive Moment" coined by famed photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (see my post "I'm Engaged!"). 

Bresson said, "the decisive moment, it is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression."

One of the most famous pictures Bresson took, "Man Jumping Over Puddle" characterizes this concept.  It shows the man's foot just inches from hitting the ground. Click the title link above to see his picture.  I'm not posting it here because I suppose it would be a copyright violation (although it is so widely published I may be acting more ethically than legally).  The timing in my shot to the right is similar, in concept anyway. 

My photo, however, was so much an accident that I didn't even know that I had captured it until I got it home on my computer. This is often the case.  When scrutinizing a photo, I find things that I didn't know existed at the time that the shutter was clicked. 

Since Bresson's statement refers to a sense of "recognition" when taking the photo, in the case of this shot, I did not actually fulfill the essence of the theory. As I did not see the foot about to hit the water or time it with that intent.  Although I did know about the reflection.

Anyway, looking at this picture, I will consider it an homage to Bresson's concept. 

And, in retrospect, it makes me wonder... did his foot get wet?  (I assume so).  This puddle is certainly not as large as the one in Bresson's photo, his man had little choice but to splash.  So, if this guy had jumped, he wouldn't have gotten wet.  So, I suspect he wasn't paying attention.  Or, perhaps he noticed at the last second and made a quick turn to the left and completely avoided getting wet. Or, maybe he extended his stride at the last second and reached across the water. 

I went back to see if I had any evidence of what happened.  The followup shot below did show he him past the puddle, rather straight on, but I'm not sure whether he is wet or not. And, I will not know.  So, there is an element of suspense in the original.  And, we can leave it as an unknown. 

Angles

Look up, look down... you might see something differently. Depending on the angle, a view of a common place may become something interesting.

For instance what's beyond the surface of that puddle down there? Or, what's on the other side of that reflection. Or, what does that person look like from an angle looking straight down?

Here are some examples. To the left, is a guy standing on the other side of a street puddle. He was actually reflected upside down, but when the picture is rotated 180 degrees, this picture spins him around right side up but as seen through water with a bit of a surrealistic edge.

Looking down from an elevated plaza down on people passing by on the sidewalk below shows the tops of heads (I saw a bunch of bald spots) and hats. The shot below seems to me to make this guy look like a gnat. A bug guy of sorts.