photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Kal Khogali | all galleries >> Transition >> New Images > The Madness in the Mirror
previous | next
03-DEC-2005

The Madness in the Mirror

On thinking on one's reflection in a mirror....

As long as I keep my eyes closed, we are two: I here, and he there, in the mirror. I must make sure that, opening my eyes, he doesn't become I, and I don't become he. I must see him and not be seen. Is this possible? The moment I see him, he'll see me and we'll recognise each other. Thanks alot! I don't want to recognise myself; I want to know him outside of myself. Is it possible? My supreme effort must consist of this: not seeing myself "in me", but being seen "by me", with my sane eyes but as if I were another: that other whom everyone sees, except me. Now then, keep calm, arrest all life, and be alert!

I opened my eyes. What did I see?

Luigi Pirandello - One, No One & One Hundred Thousand

Canon EOS 20D
1/320s f/2.8 at 38.0mm iso3200 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Guest 08-Dec-2005 21:13
Hm, this is a scary image, full of tension.
Guest 06-Dec-2005 20:10
it is allways you, you see only under different aspects.
you never can see somebody else. but finding yourself is pretty
difficult
Kal Khogali06-Dec-2005 02:53
Thanks Phil. What you describe was exactly the point of the image, and since nobody noticed it, it makes your point stronger. As an image, it seems to have been popular, but what I was expressing has not come through. The mismatch in the reflection is the madness in the mirror...the other side of us that maybe others see, but we can not. Hence the Pirandello quote. I had hoped that the colour would attract the eye to the refelction. Maybe also if the postions had been dramatically different between the lady and the reflection, the point would have been more obvious. Thanks for the feedback. Kal
Phil Douglis06-Dec-2005 02:47
This image is all about mirrors and the mysterious figures within them. Yet, your visual emphasis here is on the backs of the people and chairs, and that chair in the middle ground draws the eye to it instead of those mirrors and becomes a focal point. The mirrors are sized so small in the frame that I at first assumed that the lady on the right was the same person in the mirror on the right. But a closer look shows that may not be, and if so, that's the incongruent point here. It is just very difficult to figure out. Maybe that was your intention?

We sometimes can get so close to the picture making process ourselves that we no longer will see what the viewer will see. In this case, you may well have thought those figures in the mirrors would jump right out at the viewer, but you stacked too much in the foreground and middleground for them to do so.
Guest 05-Dec-2005 04:53
Great! Beauty salons make for the most interesting opportunities!
Guest 05-Dec-2005 04:45
excellent!!
Guest 04-Dec-2005 23:23
"Excellent" was for the photograph...
Guest 04-Dec-2005 23:22
Excellent, Kal. This text from Pirandello is really interesting.
Ray Rebortira04-Dec-2005 21:01
And through the glass darkly we see ourselves watching our reflection watch our tarnished image. Where is the Author? The search goes on.
Guest 04-Dec-2005 16:20
eeeeeeeh.... you are in the game now....

alem
Adalberto Tiburzi04-Dec-2005 13:27
Pirandello has written the Pbase mission... ;-)
Thank you for sharing your intuition.
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment