Walk along the busy streets of a large city, and you’ll notice a parallel universe. It’s the glass-enclosed world of mannequins and storefront windows, where random reflections can sometimes blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Look closely, giving equal weight to what you see on the glass with what you see through the glass, and you may suddenly see alien creatures walk among us. Move your head to the left or right, and strange multi-tiered landscapes might appear, seemingly projected into thin air.

I’m not sure why I became fascinated with photographing mannequins in display windows. Part of the motivation is my shyness about approaching people for portraits. However, the reasons go far beyond that excuse. You can create complex compositions by carefully adjusting the overall tone of the image so that the reflections seem to be part of the subject matter beyond the glass. And when shooting with a wide-angle lens, where everything can be in sharp focus, you can set up a visual conceit that the entire frame exists within the same spatial plane.

This strategy offers many opportunities for creativity. You can capture details out of context and emphasize the surreal quality of the scene. You can play with the shadows, as many of the display windows use spot lighting to bring out the mannequins from a dark background. The trick is to move around and try to sync up the reflections with the content on the other side of the glass. Sometimes it matches so well, you have the illusion of the mannequin (or mannequins) strolling along the sidewalk. Or the mannequins may appear to be watching the people on the street.

There’s almost no end to the variety of unusual compositions and ironic subtexts that can result from this perspective-bending approach. Just be open to the visual meshing of the two worlds. It takes a conscious effort at first, because we tend to mentally screen out the reflections as visual noise.