Response to Hide and Seek

This would have been a much more interesting post if you had presented it in its original color version

Life would be boring if everybody agreed with each other. It's true that the bird is more obvious in the colour image, and the different crop also helps by placing it in the frame where most western viewers will automatically go looking for a main subject; but more interesting? That depends on what you're interested in.

I was playing games by piling on the camouflage when I made and posted this. Not with the intent to show how clever I am, but because I think these sorts of images are fun, and because they touch on deeper issues such as how your expectations narrow your vision, and how the context in which you meet an image affects the seriousness with which you treat it.

Kids often see the duck long before their parents, even if they are not told that there is something to find. It's similar to the way adults read words rather than letters, and so often miss spelling mistakes and puns unless they're explicitly told to go looking for them.

How context imposes an authority is one of my favourite topics, and not just in photography. Here, the existance and nature of the forum give people a basic reason to look at the picture, but it was interesting just how far I had to go with the title, hints and alternative presentations before James hit the jackpot.

Tom mentioned Monty Python: one of the interesting things about M.P. style humour is how many people only find it funny if it is safely compartmentalised and clearly labelled.

A technical note: my original motivation to make this black and white was the poor way my scanner handles Kodachrome. I simulated a green filter with channel mixing to bring out the geranium foliage and tone down the gravel and bridesmaids dresses. This also made the duck stand out a bit less. But: now you know it is there, can you avoid seeing it? I can't.

In slide shows of the wedding I usually prefaced this with a straightforward shot of the duck (though I draw the line at fisheyes :-). With photographers I like to be more sneaky.

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