Google Maps with Street View says on its website that it “lets you explore places around the world through 360-degree street-level imagery. You can check out restaurants, visit neighborhoods, or plan your next trip.”
Or, if you are Jon Rafman, you can use the service to capture unique, unexpected, artistic and sometimes disturbing pictures of people in unusual settings.
Rathman’s website, 9-eyes.com, gathers the pictures, and is forming a cult following.
Check out the pictures and tell us what you think. We have no idea how the suited man (or is it a mannequin?) ended up on a lonely, rural lane. Why is the boy hiding behind the garbage can? We have no idea about that, nor why the reindeer is running down the road, or why Rafman – who blurs every person’s face – decided to blur the face of an elephant. But you’ll find that and much more in the collection.
Be warned: 9-eyes contains many flipped birds and shiny moons of a decidedly non-lunar variety. If you’re all right with that and you have time to kill, you know where to head.