09/06/2026
lens flare is technically a flaw
light enters the lens at an angle and starts bouncing between the glass elements inside. coatings, curvature, aperture and the construction of the lens all change what makes it back to the sensor. sometimes it’s a wash of light. sometimes you can see the glass elements themselves echoed through the frame
photographers spend a lot of effort trying to control it. hoods, filters, angles, shading the lens. me? I point the camera directly at the sun
because I like when the physics show
every lens translates that collision differently, and I’ve learned which ones break light in ways I love. I can change the aperture, move a few inches, change the angle and tell the camera exactly how much of that imperfection I want. depending on the lens, that light is split into reds, blues, greens, rainbows…
my embrace of this is undoubtedly the engineer and the artist in me occupying the same space. I understand what the light is doing. I just don’t always want to stop it. sometimes I’d rather expose the machinery a little and let physics become part of the photograph
it feels honest. revealing. a little uncontrollable - and very much how I see you
