vision

Can you see it?

Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/2 ISO 200 1/320th

This is a little experiment.  You may be wondering why in the world is there a photograph of the back of a restaurant featuring a blue box and a mop handle on this site?  Well, as I was walking with a DSLR photography student this scene immediately caught my eye.  Before reading below, can you see what I found interesting about this subject matter and why I photographed it?  Let me know in the comments if you saw it at first too.

What I saw was a smiling face.  It reminded me of perhaps the only commercial I ever liked in my life, an American Express ad that featured all kinds of inanimate objects that looked like frowning and smiling faces.  To me it was a kind of simple genius.  I also think it would make for a great photography project, if not finding smiles, then something similar to what they did in the ad.

I find it amazing how simply appearing to have a face can anthropomorphize an object.  When I look at that blue box it makes me feel a bit warm inside to see its curvy smile.  Is the mop handle a long nose?

Post links to your photographs of random inanimate object smiles (or frowns) below in the comments.  Here is the commercial: