Ceci N’Est Pas Une Pipe

The man stands on the pavement, absorbed in the small object between his fingers. From a distance, it could be mistaken for a pipe, but it is not — hence the title. The illusion, momentary and context-dependent, mirrors Magritte’s provocation: our assumptions often run ahead of the facts.

I composed this with a clear separation of subject and background. The warm, textured brown of his jacket isolates him against the cooler tones of concrete and foliage, pulling the eye immediately toward him. The alignment along the right-hand third of the frame keeps the sidewalk stretching away into the background, giving a sense of space and urban depth.

Technically, the exposure is well balanced for a dull Brussels day, retaining detail in both the bright white façades and the shaded greenery. The muted light eliminates harsh contrast, allowing subtle tonal gradations to emerge, particularly in the folds of the jacket and trousers. Depth of field is sufficient to render the street behind recognisable but not distracting.

The image works because of the tension between perception and truth: a gesture read one way until the details betray it. The street offers no commentary — cars, buildings, and trees remain indifferent — yet the frame captures that private, fleeting moment when the mind fills in what the eye does not quite see.