This sculpture of the iconic Star Trek character, “Balok” was the subject of great debate because I made the mistake of posting pictures on Facebook. The experts started in on me about how the sculpture didn’t match the original well based on an old picture taken on the set all those years ago.
What they failed to understand (before they gave their uneducated opinions) was that cameras often distort an image that otherwise in your actual presence will look quite different. The experts put pictures of my sculpture side by side, they put up arrows, diagrams, outlines in red that over lapped my work from the original that made it look in accurate.
So I did this. I took one picture close up filling frame. As expected the wide angle lens of the iPhone distorted the sculpture making the nose look fatter, the mouth less turned down, the forehead and head width smaller.
Then I stepped back and took a wider shot. Now the sculpture matches the original character pretty well and shows it as it actually appears in real life. In the side by side they look completely different but it’s in fact the same sculpture. After posting this you could hear a pin drop.
The moral to this story is, don’t comment on social media is your not truly informed because it will always come back to haunt you!
The Art of Steve Neill 