Sunday, April 11, 2010

Reflecting

I've had these pictures since this winter when the pond froze over. I keep looking at them and being critical of the lack of focus and clarity. But at the same time, I continue, after 6 months, to marvel at the complexities of mirror/reversed images.



Above, the picture looks about right, but my brain tells me something is wrong.


Is it foreground or the reflection? Consistently I have trouble flipping this in my mind. Yet the other night I watched a movie lying on my side and never thought for a second that the image was rotated. My brain corrected it automatically.

Below, the picture makes more sense, leaving me thinking, why couldn't I see this upside down?



I've been flying model helicopters for a while now and it amazes me how complicated control becomes when the helicopter and the controller don't share the same reference--meaning when the helicopter is facing me, the controls are the same but my reference to the helicopter is backwards so if I want it to move left relative to me, it's right relative to the helicopter and remote. When the helicopter is upside down (3-D models only) it gets really complicated.

Sometimes when I get stuck on a drawing I'll take it up from the board and turn it up-side-down. This helps me see the shapes and relationships from a new perspective and keeps me from thinking in one direction (usually north up).

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