Body Refractions: Face

"Body Refractions: Face No. 1" 

In this third batch of images studying refractions of the human form in water, I decided to concentrate on my favorite subject - the human face. Proportions and expressions fascinate me. The face immediately conveys a host of information and is a visual language we have unconsciously learned since we were born.

Facial recognition is one of our greatest survival mechanisms. As infants we develop the ability to recognize our caregivers early on and begin to mimic adult expressions as early as two days old.  What is interesting is that our brains are hardwired in such a way that the area where we process facial recognition is also the same area where we process emotions and memories. Now wonder our emotional memory can be triggered by characteristic features of certain individuals.

When a face is then obscured, our brains try to fill in the blanks by making visual connections to identify the individual. I find it interesting how our brains even try to link facial expressions to an image of a face that has been completely distorted.

The lovely water refractions in these portraits helped to create the facial distortions but still contain enough information to us to recognize the gender, age and even perhaps the emotional state each individual was in.

Next week, I'll be diving into the shadows for this series on Body Refractions.

Julie Green
July 15, 2017

"Body Refractions: Face No. 2" 

"Body Refractions: Face No. 3" 

"Body Refractions: Face No. 4" 

"Body Refractions: Face No. 5"