This week, guest challenge host Miriam Hurdle asks us to reflect upon reflections. (Ok, sorry for the pun.) On April 19, 1995 a terroristic disaster beset Oklahoma City when the Alfred P Murrah Building was destroyed by domestic terrorists. My opening photo honors the memory of those lost on that fateful day, twenty-five years ago in April. It features a view of the reflecting pool. No doubt on that anniversary date, there will be many reflecting on the memory of that horrible day.

In her challenge post, Miriam writes, “I am fascinated by the reflection photographs in the lakes, the rivers, the building windows, the sunglasses, the mirrors, and the puddles. This week, you may find the photographs from your archives or take new photographs using reflective surfaces to create mirror images.” You can read her entire challenge post here. I have included in this post some of my favorite photos representing reflections.

In a mostly sunny day in Nashville, Tennessee, I happened to see some window washers high at work on a tall building. Until I saw the image on my computer, I didn’t realize how “transparent” the building looks because all of that glass is reflecting the sky.

In Highlands Ranch, Colorado, I captured the image of a duck in a pond. Again, until I loaded it into my computer, I didn’t realize there was a unique reflective pattern in the pond. After studying several of the images captured, I discovered that the patterns on the water were reflections on some plants that were on the shore. The swimming duck caused the reflections to take on a “swirl” that I found to be more interesting than the subject duck.

Probably my favorite reflective image is one I’ve shared before (more than once, I admit). As we were getting ready to depart Long Beach on the cruise ship Norwegian Star, I happened to look up at the bridge. The windows of the bridge, covered with tinting to keep the interior bridge cool, each reflected a different scene like a collage of the harbor.

For my final image, I include one of my Photoshopped “3-D” pop-out images. Over the years, I’ve created a few of these images where the subject appears to “come out” of the photo frame. This one features Lake Itasca in Minnesota. If you walk across those rocks, you are actually crossing the Mississippi River just as it’s starting its 2500-mile (4023 km) journey to the Delta in the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans, Louisiana.

As always, if your browser supports it, you may select an image to enlarge it for a closer look.

John Steiner