Mirror Surveillance

I found a surveillance camera with a mirror placed right in front of the lens. It caught me off guard. Was the camera trying to reflect something? For a second, I thought I was going to see myself, and it scared me. I watched the footage at different moments throughout the day to see if there was any difference between day and night. The only thing that changed was that the camera quality became more visible, and the camera light was revealed.

I kept thinking about who put the mirror there. Did they know what they were doing? Was it on purpose? Was it meant to scare people away, or just make the camera super obvious? Or was it something else entirely that I was overlooking?

The mirror provokes more questions than answers. Who placed it there? Did they know what they were doing? Was it meant to confront, to warn, to reveal? Or was it something accidental, a practical fix that ended up feeling strangely deliberate? The camera watches. The mirror reflects. And in between, the viewer hovers, caught in a moment where roles start to slip. Observer and observed, tool and subject, image and self. What happens when a device made to look outward is forced to look back?