The inspiration of this photograph came from an accidental encounter with a glass prism and the torch that was used to light up the dark room in which we were tasked to take photographs in. The light beam, with a rainbow hue, refracted effortlessly off of the body of the prism. The rainbow light immediately caught my interest as I remember how prisms were first experimented with by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666. Newton’s prisms show dispersion. Dispersion happens as once light enters a prism it splits and allows the full spectrum of the rainbow to be seen. Light which has been dispersed is arranged in wavelengths from longest to shortest. The red light has the longest wavelength of the spectrum of 700nm and violet has the shortest of 380nm. It is the differing wavelengths which make the light bend as the light with the higher frequency, such as violet light, travels slower through the glass than the colours with a lower frequency, such as red. Colours like violet and indigo have the shortest wavelengths therefore, refract the most. The use of the rule of thirds lines up each prism to where it is deemed the most desirable spot in a photograph. The leading lines which are made up of the refracted light lead to each prism and emphasise each of them as the focal point in the photograph.
