WHAT I LOOK FOR IN A PHOTOGRAPH

Golf Juan I is a photograph of a glassed-in advertising kiosk I saw in France. It immediately struck me as a trompe l’oeil painting, with bits of tape and torn pieces of paper and the residue of glue stuck to the surface of the glass. Behind the glass is an old tourist poster faded with age. Reflected off of the glass is the village behind me, while the trees on the left are impossible to locate in space; are they part of the old poster, or a reflected part of the village? The photograph tests all our powers of perception.