Date: Dec 27, 2008, 4:58 PM
Subject: Snow Prints

So here are a bunch of the 'snow prints' I made during the nights of the 22nd and 23rd, out around the yard. I found out about this fun art project/experiment through a graffiti/art newsletter I get. They featured pictures from a blog by a girl who seems to live in Seattle. She and a some friends found out that they could produce these lovely optical illusion prints in the fresh, untouched snow on top of cars in Seattle. Here are their results: http://2pie.blogspot.com/2008/12/snow-prints.html

As soon as I saw them I got really excited and decided to try it out. The first few pictures I've attached to this email are my first attempts, and the very first one was made on Dad's jeep. You'll notice a flat looking imprint above my face, that's the hood of my rain jacket. Anyway, there are two main factors which make these prints come out so well. Lots of people who commented on the girl and her friends' pictures thought they were fake / computer-generated, and some who claimed to live in 'snow country' said they've tried this sort of thing before and it doesn't show the level of detail these creations do. Well, first of all, the optical illusion that happens to make the concave imprints look convex is the Hollow-Face illusion, which has to do with the way our eyes perceive things (especially faces). If you look at the imprints straight on with your eyes, they aren't as impressive. But when you take a flash picture of them, especially from an angle, the shadows create a fantastic optical illusion making them look more like sculptures than imprints. As for the level of detail shown, that has to do with the texture of the snow. We just so happened to have the perfect type of snow to capture the little textures on clothes and curves of the face. But for the past few days, as the snow has become more wet and icey, the imprints aren't as detailed anymore. So that's basically how it works!

Since I was the only one crazy enough to go out holding my face down in the snow (for 5-10 seconds usually) I couldn't really be as creative as the original people were with their two person poses, but I did come up with some interesting results. I also had alot more fresh snow to work with around the yard and didn't have to worry about anyone seeing me lying on top of their car or anything like that haha I should also note that you have to close your eyes (usually you automatically squint) and hold your breath otherwise the imprint will look like you have a runny nose. Hair doesn't come out unless maybe you're laying on your side and pressing it into the snow so you pretty much come out with what your head would look like without any hair. Also, you might be wondering what I'm holding in the two pictures of me sideways but from opposite angles.. In that picture, I decided to lay down holding this stuffed lion I've had since I was little, kinda like I'm sleeping. Oh! And I took the last two pictures wearing these safety glasses I have, and the very last one with the firey looking light was one I took after burying this little battery-powered press-light beneath a bit of snow.

So anyway, these are some of the best ones I took. Enjoy!

On a side note, the most recent issue of The Stranger has a link to that blog on its front page!

Love,
Sean

--
They say I made the moon.