When Men’s Journal commissioned John Midgley to photograph Brian Greene—theoretical physicist and author of The Elegant Universe—for its July issue, John used the opportunity to try an idea that he’d been kicking around for a long time. I’ll let John, who worked with Men’s Journal director of photography Michelle Wolf and creative director Benjamin Purvis, along with set designer Rob Strauss, tell the story:
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Brian Greene. Photo by John Midgley for Men's Journal.
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“Brian Greene has written about parallel universes and there being nine of them, in fact. Benjamin Purvis, the creative director, wanted to use mirrors to create multiple reflections of Brian. I had been wanting for years to use this idea I had for creating a mirror cube, and this seemed the perfect time.
I spoke to Rob Strauss about how best to do this. What I wanted was mirrors behind and on each side, then an interrogation mirror in front, and one on top. This creates a complete mirror loop. Infinite reflections. My assistant, Rogue, got very freaked out during the lighting test when he had to be on the inside.
Brian was so cool and so much fun. We got on really well. He was about as unprofessorial as I could imagine. A very inspiring man. You kind of just want to hang out with him and talk about the universe.”
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Related: Listen to an interview with Brian Greene on NPR’s Fresh Air: “A Physicist Explains Why Parallel Universes May Exist.”
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