This week’s Smartphone Challenge required a bit of lateral thinking. This is what was asked for:

“Symmetry is a strong compositional technique most often used in landscapes and architecture. So break the mould by using Symmetry in a portrait”

This posed two difficulties, the first of which is that I don’t really ‘do’ portraits. Secondly, other than a reflection, I struggle to see symmetry as a natural element of a portrait. I’ve seen images that have been doctored to make the two halves of a face look absolutely symmetrical (in essence, the right side is a flipped duplicate of the left side). The effect is vaguely unsettling and certainly unnatural.

But then, so you could argue, is this. I took a selfie (in front of one of Madame’s more colourful quilts) and then used the kaleidoscope effect in Pixelmator to create what, it’s fair to say, is quite a striking image.

But it’s nothing if not symmetrical.

52 WeekSmartphoneChallenge: 52 Symmetry Portrait