September 2, 2014

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This Image is Not Photoshopped

It would be easy enough to photoshop a geometric pattern onto an image of a waterfall, and if that was how this image had been created I would still have nodded in appreciation of the originality and execution.

By Kalliopi Monoyios

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

It would be easy enough to photoshop a geometric pattern onto an image of a waterfall, and if that was how this image had been created I would still have nodded in appreciation of the originality and execution. But that's not how this image was created, and it is that much more powerful because of it.

Artist and designer Laurent Gongora created this installation in 2012 for an annual arts festival in Massif du Sancy in the Aubergnes region of France that invites artists to play off the land. This work is titled Les Cascadeurs, which means "stuntmen" and is closely related to the word for waterfall itself, la cascade. He deftly sidesteps revealing how on earth he created such an installation, preferring instead to bask in the technical achievement and leave the rest of us wondering whether he himself is one of the stuntmen to which his work refers.

For the third year running, we are turning September into a month-long celebration of science artists by delivering a new morsel of sciart to chew on each day. Totally yum? Check out what was previously featured on this day:

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