Anne’s Transformations

Anne Schneeberger is a conceptual photographer living in New Zealand. As her portfolio reveals, her work must’ve been influenced by great works of M.C. Escher and Robert Gonsalves. The obvious difference between Anne and Rob’s works is that Anne uses real life photography (enhanced by the power of Photoshop), while Rob traditionally painted his paintings. I really like what Anne sent us, specially the one showing great mountains transform themselves into a ship. This must’ve been a homage to Rob’s Ships and Arches illusion. Can you see the illusion motive in all of the photos below? Only one I still have trouble with is the one with mountains covered in fog. Which one is your favorite?






56 Replies to “Anne’s Transformations”

    1. Actually, I think the mountains covered with fog, you see more mountains in the distance, then you realize some of them are actually cloudbanks silhouetted against the sky – you can’t tell where the mountains end and the banks of clouds begin.

    2. Yeah, now I see that but when I first looked at it I saw whales or dolphins in the ocean.

    3. I do see why people think there is a dragon in the mountains, however having lived in the mountains I also see a line of trees in the front that dont belong. The picture is taken from above the tree line. Look at the string of trees in the foreground then look around for other trees comparing the perspective. It is more common for the peaks of mountains to lie above the clouds then people realise. Either way it is a stunning picture.

    1. Kelly,the things transform into other things,such as the one with the yellow leaves,they change into butterflys,and the first one changes into a boat.Hope you can see it now.

  1. This work is wonderful, the subdle illusions are great in all of them. I had problems picking a favorite, but did pick the butterflies and leaves with man skipping down the lane without a care in the world……..

  2. the one with leaves turning into yellow butterflies reminds me of the picture when it seems like you’re on a bridge and looking between your legs. =D

  3. Love the pictures, they´re awesome!! Nice landscapes…and yes there is a dragon-fog hehe!! and i´ve got to say that i see a chinesse dragon head on almost the center of the picture, well i think its more on the leftside, but is in the middle mountain, at first sight it looks more like a sideview lion, but if you enter to the annes´homepage n´look for that picture there is 3 views of it, and the second one its a zoom-in of that and looks more like a chinesse dragon…can u see it!? Yes!? Congrats!! Take care!!!

  4. I think I like the Skipping man & Butterflies the best, followed by “the way out” scene with the maze. Interesting work.

  5. The first is sailboat mountain, the second is city street lights, the third is thinker emitting thoughts or cigarette smoke, the fourth is people watching leviathan envelope the land, the fifth is leaves morphing into butterflies, the sixth is landscape turned maze….have I got these correctly?

    Also, can we submit photos even though they wouldn’t be as terrific as these yet are interesting?

  6. I agree. The one with the mountains and clouds is something slithering through the mountains with it’s head on the far right. My first thought was a snake, but a dragon would work too…

  7. I like the moutains covered in fog the most – fog has a life of its own and as Ravjart says on the right you can see the head of a lizard or dragon, and his body threading between the mountains. I also like the way its sunrise as well, lighting up the head.

  8. 1. Mountains becoming a ship
    2. I see the street lights
    3. Mans thoughts are fledging
    4. Ravjart is right it’s a dragon
    5. Leaves of tree are becoming bytterflys
    6. Pac-Man Screen?

  9. Well they all merge into something else right? >iek the leaves become butterflies, the rocks become ships… I only don’t get the one above the dragon? Nice sky, but is it supposed to be the sea or what?

  10. My guess of the mountians with fog, is it’s basically hills with fog superimposed over the hills giving it an effect of it being mountians instead of hills.

  11. the last one i think is the depiction of life-being a maze and if we’re lucky enough to figure out our own maze we can rise above everything else and see where we’ve been— the foggy one does have a dragon head in the fog-don’t get what that one means though..

  12. They aren’t so much illusions, than just images that show a very explicit motif to it.

    Nevertheless, very aesthetically pleasing.

  13. These are beautiful!! I am a fan of Rob Gonsalves. I bought a print of his for a friend of mine and am saving up for two of his pieces!! I really like the butterflies, #7 and the ducks, #2. Thank you for sharing such wonderful art with us.

  14. The third one with the birds is supposed to be that the clouds are the staff lines and the birds are the notes of a song because if you look closer to the person’s head, you see music notes rather than birds.

    1. It doesn’t have anything to do with music. You’re trying too hard to figure it out. His thoughts are taking flight. Haven’t you ever heard of that before? “Let your thoughts take flight”. And that’s whats happening. The thoughts are coming out of his mind and then turning into birds that are flying.

    2. no, spoolee, lilli’s right. if you look closer, the music notes (at the person’s head) are eighth and quarter notes, and then they gradually transform into birds. because, this page/set of illusions is called “anne’s transformations” and the notes are TRANSFORMING into birds. in different circumstances though, you might have been right.

  15. The lsat one is the pac man maze! look closely. The dotted line is pac mans path. you know how u go to the hole on the right side of the maze and you end up on the other side of the maze? the dotted line is suppoesed to portray pac man going to the other side of the maze endind up at the other hole.
    U know, as if hes going around.

  16. As transformations, they’re all a complete bust. Not one of them shows any transitional phases.
    It’s not “leaves into butterflies”, just “leaves and butterflies.” (And, since Escher was invoked, I kept looking for a fish under the leaves at the bottom.)
    A ridge of mountains, then a crudely boat-shaped formation. No interim steps.
    The “thoughts taking flight” one might be transitional (I had to copy it and open it in an image viewer to get enough magnification to even see that the birds go all the way to the man’s head), but it could just as easily be a line of birds that just happen to line up with the head. (Or possibly the camera was deliberately placed for this.)
    (BTW, add a few stars in the upper left, and you’ve pretty much got the background for the end of Disney’s Hall of Presidents show.)
    The dragon’s head may even be an undoctored shot — I think it would be more interesting if that were true than if it was Photoshopped.
    The bottom of the last one may indeed be a maze – I get a pop-up saying “the way out” when I mouse-over it, which I assume is meant to be the title – so I guess the dots are the path of someone exiting the maze. But it’s a moronically simple maze, with the entrance on the left and almost a straight line from entrance to exit. Should take no more than 30 seconds to walk it. Not what I would classify as a maze.

    So, as pretty pictures, intriquing even, sure. I’ll grant you, they’re nice to look at. But as transformations (as per the headline), or even illusions, sorry, but no.

  17. About the one with the leaves turning into butterflies: There’s something off about the scale of the man when compared to the trail that he’s walking on. Either the man is too large or the trail is too thin at the point where he’s walking. Also because of this scale problem, the man seems to be up off the ground.

  18. 1. rocks become boats
    2. the stars become lamps
    3. birds are like music notes
    4. the fog is a dragon
    5. butterfly’s are also leafs
    6. pac-man

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