Somewhat strange

Certain moments are so strange that they are worthy of a second inspection. Our LFI Gallery photographers have keen eyes, and often capture absurd scenes in mundane settings. In this selection we find a curious tree house, what appears to be a doorway into another world, an ice swimmer beneath a mirror-smooth surface, and a double exposure that blends different realities into a single whole. 

1. Armand Baclay
“I discovered this bizarre image at Edna Park in Santa Ana, California. The owner of the property had incorporated window frames into two perfectly pruned trees, imitating a tree house. I found it strange that it creates the concept of a tree house, but it’s not a conventional one you can climb into.”

2. Hüseyin Özbudun
“The sheep was standing quietly on the backseat of an old car, looking out of the window like a passenger. The contrast between the mundane, urban surroundings and the unexpected presence of the animal, created a surreal, rather humorous moment.” 

3. Kerstin Kuntze
“With the exception of a hole broken into the ice, the Hattsteinweiher, a lake near Usingen, was completely frozen last winter. As an ice swimmer, I like to take my Leica X-U with me into the water. In this picture I was half under the sheet of ice, holding one hand underneath, and photographing from above with the other. At the same time, people were leisurely skating around on the other side of the lake.”

4. Dave Couldwell
“It was cold, but very sunny when I visited the Midland Railway Centre in Butterley, Great Britain. A steam engine locomotive was just leaving Swanwick Junction station to take the five-minute run to Butterley. The father of these two little children was filming the departure of the train, while the children were mimicking him.” 

5. Meera Nerurkar
“The party celebrating Women’s Carnival Day 2025 in Düsseldorf was over, and the masses had dispersed. While I was looking for remaining carnival participants, I noticed a couple dressed in hare costumes heading to a kiosk. It was amusing that their masks were on the backs of their heads, making it appear as though they were looking directly at me.” 

6. Przemyslaw Mioduszewski
“This picture is a self-portrait taken in north-eastern Iceland. The idea behind it was to capture the falling into a dream, which is why the picture is titled Hypnic Jerk. The execution during the shoot was just as bizarre as it looks in the photo.” 

7. Alex Ortiz
“I was experimenting with my Leica IIIf from around 1953, using LomoChrome Purple film and various colour filters. On the High Line in New York, I discovered three gigantic sculptures of fish and thought to myself, ‘That’s strange. Let’s see how it works in a photograph.’ The result was pleasantly bizarre.” 

8. Ian Zhang
“In the Xintiandi business district of Shanghai, China, the classic sculpture of a colossal head produced a feeling of alienation. When a passer-by bent down as though whispering something to the giant, the place suddenly became a theatrical, quasi dream-like stage – a moment between reality and performance.”  

9. Bill Lai
“The famous, 3D cat billboard above a building close to Shinjuku Train Station in Tokyo, inspired me to produce a double exposure. After I had rewound the film, I noticed a woman in a phone booth, while a couple next to it were having an argument. The emotional tension seemed detached from the woman’s isolation – like two surreal realities.” 

10. Florian Wurzinger
“A child was playing with a branch as he went along the large facade of an abandoned house in a small village in Lower Austria. For a brief moment, the lines of the branch aligned with the crack in the wall – a quirky twist.”

11. Hyeong Seon Ryu
“On the island of Jeju in South Korea, there’s an outdoor installation close to the sea: a stairway seeming to climb up into the sky, ends with an empty door. The scene is rather surreal, as though the door might lead to another world rather than a real place – a step into the unknown.” 

12. Vojtěch Mervart
“One day, I was taking lighting test shots in the studio, and was enjoying a bit of experimentation. On this occasion, I was using special kaleidoscopic filters as well as pieces of textured glass cut into various shapes, which I held in front of the lens. The result is this portrait, which showcases the effects in a unique way.”