Pareidolia (/ˌpærɪˈdoʊliə, ˌpɛər-/; also US: /ˌpɛəraɪ-/) is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one detects an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none. (From Wikipedia)

I kinda have that, Pareidolia, only mine is not exactly it. There was a time not long ago when I could “see” spaceships here and there frequently enough for it to be borderline inconvenient. This was mostly outdoors due to the supposed size of a spaceship, they usually aren't small. I had this when I was young too, lost it in my late teens but it came back about ten, fifteen years ago. This was around the time I built my first scale model spaceships since my youth.

My pareidolia isn’t really a textbook case but something perhaps close to it. In my mind there are spaceships where there is just empty spaces. Like the vision enhancing apparatus in the head of a Terminator I would see how a spaceship would fit on yards, fields, forest clearings and such. I often took photographs of those places and later, sometimes years later, I would plant a spaceship there. These were mostly winter landscapes but sometimes other seasons of the year too. Also cityscapes and garages would trigger the sights.

If I didn’t have a camera with me when I saw a good spot I would go home, get the camera, go back and take the photograph. So, it’s not all just inspiration on the go, there is some planning of course.

This is inspirational and exciting most of the time but there were times when I got weary of it too. Everywhere I went there were potential opportunities and I got anxious if I didn’t have a proper camera with me or if I didn’t have the time to stop for a photoshoot if something came up. Ditching the habit for a vacation or a night out wasn’t always a given. Maybe there were signs of addict behaviour there somewhere at times. When there was a good sighting there was a good rush, repeated later when a spaceship model actually fit in there just as I saw it. Love those moments! Truly.

I have lots of unused photographs of various locations with this potential in a “Projects” folder on my computer desktop. I check them sometimes to see if they talk to me. If a photograph that looks great doesn’t seem to work even after a while, I save them elsewhere. They’re not good for a project.

For the past couple of years I have noticed the spaceships have begun to appear less. I still get those moments from time to time but they are clearly fewer. There are scale models on the workbench even now, I still build them, but it’s more about the build and less about whether I’m going to use the model for photography. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. There is joy in building without a goal other than the model itself. And when the visions come, the more models I have ready the better.

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