The human eye is a fascinating work of art. It packs over 2 million moving parts within a diameter of just 24 millimeters. Weighing a mere 7.5 grams, it can distinguish over 500 shades of grey and 2.7 million colors. All with the help of 107 million light sensitive cells, which help us, process 36,000 pieces of information in an hour and 24 million images in a lifetime!
The magical ‘window to the soul’ has often been compared with the camera, much to the chagrin of those who know their optics. While it is true that the cornea serves as the front element, the iris & the pupil as the aperture ring, and the retina as the sensor, what’s often forgotten is that the eye sees in three dimensions; it can adjust its view effortlessly in the dark; it has blind spots; and above all, has a resolution of 576 mega pixels unlike your regular camera that processes only still images.
‘Premium Beat’, a Shutterstock company, once did an estimate on how much it would cost to build a camera that mimics the eye. They concluded that it would take a whopping 35 million dollars to match the sophistication of the eye!
The reason we’re waxing eloquent about the eye is because it is the quintessence of photography. The point of view is the one thing that separates the run-of-the-mill from the remarkable. Without the ability to see the poetry in the pedestrian, even an Ansell Adams would have been an Average Joe.
And so, this issue of the One Eyeland Annual is an ode to the mind’s eye that sees things in a new light. Like always, it features carefully handpicked images that blow your mind.
Curated by the masters of the craft, all the pictures featured in the ‘Best of the Best Photographers 2017’ book meet the highest standards we’ve set for ourselves in aesthetics, imagination, and finesse.
Starting with 1,70,000 submissions, we filtered out the work and distilled it down to 155 spectacular shots clicked by 94 stellar photographers from across the globe. We’d be delighted if you could feast your eyes on these eye candies.
G Sharad Haksar
Founder
One Eyeland
