Photography 101: Mystery (or Late night Optical Illusions in my Kitchen)

For day 10, of Photography 101 the theme is Mystery.

“Show us something uncertain, and manipulate light around you to enhance the mood of your image.”

I had no idea what to photograph for today’s theme. Finally, tonight, I decided to photograph my kitchen window. Being quite tired, I manipulated the light minimally by flicking a light switch to turn on the blue glass lamp.

I like the way it’s uncertain whether the light is being reflected or refracted, whether an object is on one side of the panes or the other.

If I show more of the scene, some of the uncertainty lessens. The position of the blue glass lamp becomes clear and the curtain on the window creates a reference point. Depth, however, is still ambiguous within the window panes.

The light at the center, top edge of the photo is coming from my neighbor’s house and is well over 50′ away, beyond the window. The leaves and branches silhouetted by that light are at least 25 ‘ from the window, though they appear much closer. The orange wall and white mullioned windows are 20’ from the reflecting window, mirrored with a fun-house distortion.

There are also a couple of glass bottles on the widow sill, at the center of the bottom edge of the photo, barely visible, which appear to be to the right of a whitish rectangular shape. That white rectangular shape is not next to the bottles on the sill. It is, in fact, being reflected from 20′ feet and is just below the white mullioned windows on the orange wall. The three floating blue dots are blue glass bottles, also on the window on the opposite wall.

Who knew there were so many optical illusions in my kitchen… or within my kitchen window pane… I think part of my fascination with this can be attributed to the lateness of the hour!

Thanks for bearing with me! 🙂

Hoping you all enjoy your weekend.
Blessings,
Terry