This picture was taken at Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle. The 184m-tall space needle, along with much of the surrounding garden, is visible as a reflection because the glass sculpture acts as a spherical mirror.

The virtual image on the spherical mirror is reduced in size, allowing the large object to fit on the glass sculpture as an image. Although the exterior of the glass is uniformly reflective, the stained pattern inside the sculpture reflects more brightly than the dim reflection, thus obscuring parts of the image.

This creates a sense of depth, with colour on the surface and a reflected image appearing deeper in the glass.

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Jonathan Lew
Burnaby, BC
Second Place (IYL 2015 Category)

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