Mark
Mon Sep 11 2006 9:07 pm
 |  How observant are you?
About 3 weeks ago, I posted (in the Judges/Samples Gallery) my photograph entitled "Generations". In the description, I noted that this image was in celebration of 180 years of photography (the first photo was arguably made in 1826).
At first glance, the viewer sees a color portion of the flowers at left, and a rather "dull" B&W section at right, suggesting both the new and old generations of photographic technology. This effect was done, of course, in Photoshop.
However, the actual image of 3 flowers against a dark background was not altered in any other way, but the mathematician part of me noticed some other cues in the image to celebrate that 180 years.
First, notice there are 6 petals on each flower. A generation is usually considered 30 years, so each petal represents a generation (6 x 30 = 180). There are also 6 anthers (the brown area on the stalks in the center) on each of the two flowers facing forward. Again, that's 6 generations.
Want more? Well, there are 3 flowers (one is facing away from the camera) for a total of 18 petals. That's 18 decades (18 x 10 = 180) of photography.
Now, count the number of lines in the break between color and B&W. That's right, the number is again 6. Beginning to see a pattern here?
This is all intended to show there can be a lot more than meets the eye in a photograph. I hope you'll remember that the next time you click the shutter!
Mark
"Generations" (full size)
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