Angle of light, Wynn Bullock

I talk about this photograph in class constantly, when discussing angle of light. Bullock presented it like this:



The "normal" view of it is this:




Your eye, and mind, wants light to come from the top of the frame- you will perceive depth based on that assumption, and, well, force an image to fit. In the first example you perceive what are really puddles as little raised "mesas" of water, because that's the perception that makes sense assuming the light is coming from the top. It's easier to "see" the depth reversed, than to "see" the light coming from the bottom.

This photograph is reproduced from "Wynn Bullock, Photography: A Way of Life". It is called "Point Lobos, 1972".