The following images are part of a series about how perspectives and feelings about a place can shift depending upon what you know about a place and time. Something that looks lovely in the abstract, an anodyne pattern of shapes and color, a grid of streets or rooftops, for instance, may give way to a jolt of memory, confusion, or sorrow once the viewer has more information about the place.

I first felt this shift while standing near the obelisk at the Hippodrome of Constantinople.  The day was bright and beautiful, but as I stood there reading my guidebook I learned that on a single day during a week of rioting in January of 532, some 30,000 people had died there.  It seemed as though the atoms in the air were suddenly charged.  I fled, but even now 15 years later, I can feel that off-balance sensation.

I have created three in the series so far and have more in the works.  If you've had similar experiences, I'd love to hear about them.