An Imperfect Mirror

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

On the Pond II 36 x 36” John Hulsey

Living with a pond nearby, we are the lucky watchers of the seasonal, even daily changes in its display of colors, atmospheric effects and reflections. Reflections are a fascinating subject—changeable, seemingly unpredictable and shifting.

A perfectly still body of water is, at best, an imperfect mirror. It is imperfect because not all the light rays that strike it are reflected back to our eyes. Some of the light is scattered—bouncing off the surface of the water in different directions. Some of it is absorbed by the water it penetrates.

If we’re looking at an object that is bright on the shore, it won’t be as bright, generally speaking, in its reflection. Not all of the light on the subject is reflected—some of it is lost, so it stands to reason that its reflection looks darker. But a curious thing happens when you’re looking at darker objects on shore. They may wind up being lighter in their reflection, for the s…