Sometimes, the most subtle appearances of the fantastic are the most powerful--the ones where the fantastic is just hinted at, rather than hammered into your mind.

Such is the case with the work of Moscow-based photographer Katerina Plotnikov.
In her work, there is no obvious magic--no fairy wings, magic wands, or supernatural transformations.

Instead, fabric flows and floats, giving her subjects the appearance of flying; certain colors are muted while others are heightened; and her subjects are seated in unusual positions in chairs of unusual sizes.

The My Modern Met blog calls Plotnikov's work "hauntingly surreal."  Certainly, the hint of the supernatural catches your eye, makes you look twice, and then slowly reels you into the image.  But there is more going on here as well, as this hint of the supernatural also enables you, the viewer, to fill in the possibilities suggested by the image, thus making you a partial creator of the magic, rather than just its passive observer.

By Jen Miller