PATTERNS AND TONES

"Body Refractions: Form No. 1" We make connections between light and shadow to give meaning to the image we are presented with. It is human nature to try to identify the subject we are looking at as a way of determining whether we are safe or in danger. We are hardwired to make these quick assumptions in order to survive. This psychological phenomenon of seeing faces in abstract forms is called Pareidolia. It can be seen in the Rorschach inkblot text, which helps doctors obtain a better understanding of their patients mental state by allowing them to describe what they see in an arbitrary form. It can also be attributed to many religious apparitions, such as seeing the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich , or the seeing the face of Jesus in the  Shroud of Turin . In this final set of images from my Body Refractions series (a study in water, light and refraction), I was captivated by the abstract forms my subject's body created underwater. The obliteration o...

"Body Refractions: Shadow No. 1" Another bright and sunny week here in Southern California got me looking at the shadows we cast upon the surface of our pool. Our shadows were still being refracted by the undulating water below but had less depth as they were not within the water but merely being cast upon its surface. We had a lot of fun "posing" for our shadow portraits and as I tried out different angles and gestures to evoke a recognizable human stance, it reminded me of the amazing shadow puppets I had seen last year at the Hong Kong Museum of History . Intricately pierced paper and leather structures were back lit to cast their forms onto the wall, their hinged arms and legs allowing them to walk, sway and dance with ease. Watching the shadows also reminded me of the Paper Ballet I produced several years ago which incorporated shadow puppetry in the background of the subjects. " Fleeting Perspectives: A Paper Ballet " was a series of 16 ima...

"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...