What are FotoReflections?' 

          It all began when I set out to see if I could capture, in a photograph, the magic I often felt when visiting ghost towns in the West.  Was there a new way to visually record that feeling with an ordinary camera?   What has evolved over the past six years, looking through windows and other glass surfaces,  is the technique I now call FotoReflections.   

  

         How are FotoReflections Created? 

             FotoReflection photography captures  natural superimpositions, recorded in the camera at the time the shutter clicked. When the lighting is right, a glass surface can act like a mirror while still retaining some of its translucency.  That reflection happens naturally.   That phenomenon allowed each of the photographs in this book to be captured with a single press of the camera shutter.  No other images are added.  Anyone standing in that place with similar lighting can see these.  All the lighting you see is natural.  Everything in the photograph was there when I took the photograph.  

 

        Using the FotoReflection technique photography comes alive in a powerful and unique new way, showing us views of the world we have never seen before. FotoReflections can create architecture which is highly improbable.  They often create impossible spaces. These fresh images draw us in, inviting us to explore a fresh view of familiar scenes.

 

       The camera is placed off to the side, just out of view. The window frame or edge of the glass is usually visible, assisting the viewer’s orientation.   Some parts of the images may appear ‘ghost-like.’   This is created by the physics principle of refraction.  The front surface of glass reflects about 85% of the light, but the rear surface reflects about 15%.  When the camera is placed at an oblique angle to the glass, the light is bent more, producing a second ‘ghost’ image. 

 

         Photography as a Puzzle

               Each image has elements of a puzzle, challenging us to figure out what we are looking at.  The viewer is drawn into a re-ordering of our sense of reality. Much of what is seen are reflections in the window. It can be challenging and fun to figure out what is a reflection and what is seen directly. The viewer is drawn into a higher level of experience. I hope you enjoy your exploration of these FotoReflection images.