I photographed a piece of driftwood on a Lake Superior beach. Many viewers saw an alien, a saint, or something else entirely.
Recently, I posted the above picture of driftwood on a Lake Superior beach between Bayfield and Washburn, Wisconsin. It was popular across my social media accounts, but particularly popular on BlueSky. Many of the comments suggested the driftwood looked like an alien or a Christian religious icon. That surprised me because all I saw was a cool piece of driftwood.
The next photo is of the same piece of driftwood, but from a different angle and from about 45 minutes earlier. I photographed it at 22mm instead of 18mm, which gives a different look and doesn’t distort the corners as much.
I personally like the first image better. The angle allowed me to compose the scene so the driftwood stretches across the frame while emphasizing the curves of the roots radiating from the central root ball. The clouds above subtly echo its form. It’s probably one of the best photographs I’ll make this year, not because it’s technically difficult, but because of the strong emotional response it seems to evoke in viewers.
One of the things that I love about photography is how small changes in perspective can completely change what people see and the emotional response they have.
The two photos were made of the same piece of driftwood on the same beach less than an hour apart. The subject remained the same. The waves washing up onto the beach stayed the same. Nothing moved but small grains of sand, yet the photographs feel different.
In the second image, most people will see a piece of driftwood resting on a sandy beach in the surf. In the first, viewers saw an alien, a religious icon, or eerily mysterious figure lying on the beach. I never saw any of those things when I made the photo. I only knew that by shooting from this angle and with a wide lens, I could make the driftwood appear elongated and direct the viewer's eye down the angled beach towards the cloud in the sky above.
Photography is often considered a record of reality, but photographers spend much of their time deciding how reality will be seen. A slight change in position, a different focal length, a lower camera position, a different filter, or waiting for a different wave can completely change how a scene is perceived. One of my photography teachers used to say that a photographer and subject are an atom. The nucleus is the subject, and the electron is the photographer and their choices. The photographer orbits the subject until they find where the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
A photograph doesn’t change the subject. It changes how we see it.
When photography works, it makes people see something they might have walked past without noticing. Sometimes that means revealing beauty or mystery, and occasionally it means causing half the internet to believe that a piece of driftwood is an alien visitor soaking up rays on a beach.
Until next time
I hope you enjoyed this week’s essay. I enjoyed sharing the photos and taking them. I’m also going to shamelessly plug my 2027 Photo Workshops. They are open for registration and five of the ten still have spaces available. The others have wait lists available. You should join me.
I’ll see you again in two weeks. Until then, here is the parting shot.
Very interesting! I love seeing the rocks and driftwood in my beloved Lake Superior shore which was where I often played until dinner time. Those were more innocent times. Thank you for explaining your process of photography.
Each of us has an “automatic setting” that delivers an impression based on how it has been pre-calibrated. So, it’s easy to understand how Iconography - crucifixes, aliens - can become the default images our eye sees through the viewfinder.
By choosing instead to use our manual settings, different lenses, perspectives and light sources, the world presents a much more novel and grander scale of possibilities.
This photo is not only a remarkable image, but also a great teacher for photographers and viewers alike.