Reflections, Part I

Reflections, Part I

One of my first favorite piano pieces was Claude Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau" or "Reflections on the water". If you don't know it yet, listen to this recording by the inimitable Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. In this impressionistic piece of music you can close your eyes and imagine different intensities of light bouncing off the rippling water.
Every day we are confronted with reflecting surfaces of buildings, cars, sunglasses, etc. We usually take them at face value, but it is fun to allow our brains to connect the surface with the reflection, which is all the camera knows how to do.

The tension with which these panes of glass were framed results in a playful collection of individual views of the surrounding trees and houses.

Birds of warning fly through the landscape of stone and glass. The sunlight in the photo's upper third adds a pleasing variety of saturation to the bricks in the picture.

Here is another example of the beautiful weaving patterns that bent panes can produce. I also like the third visual plane in this picture: the staircase inside the building which offers its own set of lines.

These birds seem to be at home flying through the urban clouds. The sweep of the reflection and change in saturation toward the bottom of the panes contrasts with the right angles provided by the frame.
Once again, it is worthwhile to see the reflection for what it is, or even better, notice how it interacts with the reflecting surface.