Distorting my reality...

In an attempt to alter perception, I decided to experiment by using an implement that would distort my surroundings through the use of photography. I wanted to recreate a kaleidoscope effect without directly using an electronic device to create that and opted to borrow a reflective stone from one of my peers which enabled me to see through the stone as well as capture the reflections of my surroundings which is in turn my reality. The pictures were interesting and allow me so see certain aspects of my college classroom but others are completely distorted allowing little to no recognition. This idea is something I'd like to take further by photographing my reality such as every day actions and occurrences and placing them into an apps which are available on most app stores which allows any picture to be merged into a kaleidoscopic composition. The images within the composition would be familiar to me because they are my reality and surroundings but due to their rearrangement, this will allow for the effects of defamiliarization to be obtained.

Picture of the Stone used to create the photographs:

And the pictures that followed...

 

As you can see, each one varies from the last and something new is achieved every time which illustrates that the stone did achieve a kaleidoscopic effect and created interesting imagery in the process.

 

I also decided to recreate kaleidoscopic images using an app on my phone which allowed me to spontaneously create the patterns and compositions that we often see when looking through a kaleidoscope before taking my own images which would then be processed into another app and filtered into a kaleidoscope appearance. The app I used to create my own images is called Kaleidoo for Android and was very easy to use with quite eye catching results.

 

 

My next steps include downloading iBooth which is the app allowing you to process your own images into a kaleidoscope filter.