How it’s done
While playing with a high powered laser, we noticed the beautiful water currents visible while scanning clouds of vapor. This gave us the idea to try and capture images of these currents.
It was a difficult process at first that involved two people perfectly synchronized and a laser attached to a skateboard. We got maybe one or two good shots, which were cool, but the real magic didn’t happen until we decided to mirror these images. Suddenly we saw faces and figures illustrated in a unique style, made by nature itself.
Fast forward 8 years and we decide to build a motorized track, which would allow us to capture these images with more consistency and quality.
The video here is of the track-mounted laser scanning clouds of vapor while a camera takes long exposure shots.
Zoom in to see the detail and pause
when you see a face in the middle!
Pareidolia and Symmetry
The human brain naturally looks for eyes and faces, even in abstract images. This phenomenon is called pareidolia. As you can see in the above video, when the images are mirrored, the symmetry of the shapes can present as faces.
Zoom in!
These images offer a myriad of artifacts when you zoom in on the detail. Pinch out and get lost in there.
TIP: If you’re watching the video on your phone, rotate to landscape to see the full size.
