Ask pupils to guess what this photo represents and where it was taken from. Using a digital camera, challenge them to produce a similar image of something in the environment that’s not easily recognised. It may be taken from an unusual angle, as with this picture, or be a close-up.

Follow this with a project on camouflage. Select an object and present it in a way that makes it difficult to identify against its background, or explore the impact of reflected light on water, again using digital means.

Look at surface ripples and also how different forms disintegrate and change, both when reflected on water and when submerged. Marbling, which involves floating oil-based paint on water and laying paper on it to take an impression, is also a good way of replicating the delicate undulating water forms in this photo.

KS4

David Hockney’s swimming pool paintings and prints are an obvious critical studies reference here, but pupils should research other painters who depicted water and its coloured reflective surface, such as Paul Gauguin, “Beach at Le Pouldu” (1889) or Camille Pissarro, “Flood, Morning Effect, Eragny” (1892).