This image plays with expectations and convention. This is not your typical, dirty car engine. It is a transformation of the beast to the beauty.
Susan says, “I don’t like getting my hands dirty – except when I’m digging in my garden. I wouldn’t mind working on this car supposing that I actually knew how. It would be a grease free-experience and aesthetically pure. Everything is so pristine that it’s difficult to see where the engine ends and where it is repeated in its reflection. I’ve often wondered about the rational for antique car restorations. Why (mostly) men are willing to put hundreds of hours and dollars into an old car. I begin to understand it here: to make a pure and unsullied piece of intricate engineering from a rusty, beaten-down and abandoned hunk of junk. It is magical. You see a car in a whole new way. Your first reaction is to applaud the dedication, your second is to marvel at the shiny jewel. Hard work has created a new kind of beauty.
How an Unconventional Image Can Help Your Audience See Ideas in Unexpected Ways
A photo like this could illustrate a presentation point about dedication, hard work, finding beauty in unexpected places. Using a photo like this in your presentation is a perfect way to bring these abstract ideas to life. P.S. Is this really a restored engine or have modern parts been added to create a hot rod. I’d like to know.”
Lucia says, “As Susan pointed out, we don’t really know where the engine ends and the reflection begins. That is what gave me trouble in framing this photo. The reflection is so pristine, I was afraid it would be confusing to the eye. But if you look closely, you’ll see a person in the reflection. I think this gives your eye a subtle, subliminal message of where the division lies. Now look beyond the engine and it’s reflection. From what we can see of the impeccable body and grill we can surmise that the whole car was treated with the same precision. The patience and attention to detail is paramount here. Not a smidge of grease to be seen. Not one tiny element is out of place.”
