Back in the eighties, Rousse started out as an ordinary laboratory photographer, but then moved on and began taking photographs of vacant car parks, empty roads and condemned buildings.

After a while an idea hit him, so he started painting figures of people on walls of these buildings, and then photographed these. Later on, he switched from figures to illusory shapes. Soon he grew tired of all this, and began superimposing photographs on spaces, realities on other realities.

I find Rousse’s combination of photography and illusions, combined with installation art somewhat confusing – perhaps annoying even. It’s impossible to really know what you are seeing ,ever! I’m not sure I would enjoy any of his works hanging from my walls…

Take the above photo for example. At first glance it looks as if one is looking at the scene through a circular filter. A closer look reveals that the shapes in the circle appear to be entirely separated from their background, as if an unrelated photograph has been superimposed on the area behind.

Nothing in the “normal” part of the area lines up with a single part in the white photo. I don’t know about you, but I feel cheated by this kind of artifice. My eyes want the circular part to fit into the main picture so much, but it just won’t! You may find more of Rousse’s work below:

The picture below has to be one of the most famous photographs ever taken. On July 20th, 1969, Buzz Aldrin was the second astronaut to walk on the Moon. Neil Armstrong was the first. Aldrin had hoped to step out of the Lunar Landing Module ahead of Armstrong, but NASA ruled that Armstrong was best placed in the capsule for that momentous move. However, it’s interesting to know that Aldrin has managed to upstage Armstrong in history, by recording his very own “first” footprint. Unfortunately, Neil forgot to bring photo of his first step back home.

But have you ever noticed how weird this footprint actually looks? It appears to be negative of the original photo, because it seems to stand proud of the moon dust. I suppose most people think (as I did) that its strange appearance had something to do with the fact it was taken on the Moon, where no atmosphere exists. Well, that’s half true… Back here on Earth, Sun never shines as brightly, especially from such an angle. In my opinion, the lighting is responsible for the way the picture looks.

The illusion has to do with the way our eyes perceive things. Our brain expects light to come from above, and that’s why we see this photo convex (embossed). For proof, view the same exact photo turned upside down.

The footprint appears to be indented in the Moon dust, now. Same as it would be back here on Earth. This implies that the atmosphere has nothing to do with it this time. It is merely the way light falls, and the way our eyes perceive the resulting image. But that’s not all folks! No matter which version of the photo you are observing, if you contort yourself and try to look at it upside down, it won’t switch – Your brain simply won’t permit it. Try it yourselves!

Justine was a long time follower of this blog and was recently invited to help us bring more stuff to our society. Moillusions.com and I proudly welcome Justine, and wish her success in her future writing. Hopefully we’ll manage to develop long-lasting relationship with Justine, resulting in many new illusions for You, our loyal visitors. – Vurdlak