THE BEAUTIFUL LIE LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHS

This is a series of optical illusion photographs. One of each pair of photos is upside down, and while it seems quite believable, it shows a different and often bizarre or impossible scene. The concave forms have become convex, and vice versa. In this series, my subject is both the beauty of nature and the way we see it and think about it.

Light casts shadows indicating the volume of an object. Science tells us that our prehistoric ancestors survived better if their brains automatically interpreted light as coming from above, allowing humans to instantly analyze the scene in front of them and decide if escape or fight was necessary.

When you turn it upside down the light is actually coming from below, but our brains have already interpreted the shapes as though light was coming from above, and so their forms shift. In the case of one of these pictures, your brain is lying to you.

But at least it is a beautiful lie.

 

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Left: Canyon in Southern Utah

Right: Great Wall Mountains in Southern Utah