Thoughts on #WhatsItWednesday
This year I’ve borrowed an idea from @dejus, a regular visual puzzle posted on Wednesday, dubbed #WhatsItWednesday. Here is my photo for this week.
My version of this game is slightly different than @dejus’, in that his normally has a clear photo of a manufactured object, usually a small part of a larger machine or product which is very recognizable. That’s a fun game, but the puzzles I come up with have a different flavor, generally stemming from physical processes, such as ice freezing. However, obfuscation by narrowing the focus to remove context is a fundamental trick that I use as well. The name also doesn’t quite suit me, so next year I will probably “re-brand” to #VisualPuzzle.
Interestingly, none of my puzzle photos have been landscapes: they are just too recognizable, even when you zoom way in on something. The only photos I know of that could qualify are drone shots, where a pattern we don’t normally see can be hard to place.
I’ve valued the #WhatsItWednesday meme because it makes me look for abstractions in small things. I love the clouds and landscapes, and they are popular with my audience, but having a regular alternative goal acts as a palette cleanser.
The most difficult part of this game is gauging how difficult a photo will be to recognize. Ideally, I’d like to find a “Goldilocks” zone, where nobody gets it at first, but a few hints brings recognition. Alas, Papa and Mama bear dominate.
That said, I think today’s puzzle is going to be easy for people, so I’m providing second one that I figure will be impossible.
Matt Huyck First one: shadow of a bike wheel (with reflector in the spokes) on a (torn) cardboard box?
Second one: fascinating image. Don’t have the faintest clue. Makes me think of a solar system somehow, but then I just came from a planetarium talk about the Geminids.
Clifford Beshers @fgtech First one: correct.
Second one: yes, it does make me think of a solar system. No, it’s not.
Matt Huyck The part on the right looks like a cutaway revealing the chambers of a nautilus shell, but the rest of this image looks entirely man-made, not naturally grown. The black swirly parts could be oil or rubber.
Clifford Beshers @fgtech i figured this one would be tough. It’s all man-made, except for the green/black area, where a physical process has made patterns. Hard to give a useful hint here, but lets start with this: you can see the black and green, but you can’t touch it.
Clifford Beshers @fgtech The black surface on the right is a glass stovetop, the grey rings show where the dual (small inside large) burners are. The left side is a glass saucepan lid, rimmed with metal, glittery plastic handle in the middle. Apparently I cooked something green that spattered the underside of the lid, with condensate running down and clearing away the green in wavy tracks.
Simple!
Matt Huyck I can see it now. So glad you let me of the hook because I kept staring at the image and coming up blank. You did a beautiful job capturing the light and shadow and framing it to look like an alien landscape.