Reflection, Refraction and Fresnel

Reflection, Refraction and Fresnel

Three Principles for Creative evaluation. Reflection, Refraction and Fresnel. All three offer us different perspectives as we move through a creative domain. Let’s start with the more obvious one of the three: Reflection.

Reflection

Reflection is known to us as a way of stopping. It is a way of re-evaluating. To step back from the closeup view of ourselves or work and to reconsider our heading. By its nature reflection is looking into oneself. Examining the entity before us we look at the details and how they pertain to the whole. Once we have stepped back and observed we then take action to change or concur that we are in the right place. Reflection shows us what is.

Refraction

Refraction is the bending of light. The distortion of vision. Most commonly seen in a glass of water but also occurs when a filter of some kind is placed over our vision. Refraction breaks our fixation on the regular and focus our attention on what is the essence of what has been. Consider the scientist who used a glass of water and a straw to argue that reality is based on perception. He asked his colleagues whether straw’s true nature was straight. They all agreed it was. He then took the straw and placed it in a glass of water. Of course, now the straw appeared to be bent. Their perception of the straw had changed the straw had not. By using refraction to look at our work and ideas we can see things in a different way.

Fresnel

Lastly there is Fresnel. Augustin-Jean Fresnel was a french inventor and scientist who lived in the 1800’s he is most famous for inventing the Fresnel lens which is used on lighthouses to maximise the throw and intensity of the light behind. Fresnel is also known for his observation of a phenomena in water. When one stands back from a body of water what is visible is the reflection of the sky. As you get closer to the edge of the water the angle of light changes and you begin to see down through the water to the bottom.

So Fresnel is another way of looking. By moving closer to a concept we can see what lies underneath. Moving closer may mean immersing ourselves in a topic so we understand the contexts in which we work. Again this gives us a different perspective from which we can branch out from to move forward into new areas.


We should then make use of Reflection, Refraction, Fresnel in our creative practice to shift us through different conceptual spaces to enable more creative work to happen.