For a moment, something does not make sense.
You look again.
The arrangement still seems strange.
You try to follow one arm from shoulder to hand, expecting the familiar logic of human anatomy to make everything clear.
Instead, the lines appear to overlap.
A hand seems to emerge from an unexpected direction.
An arm appears to belong to one figure, then suddenly seems more naturally connected to the other.
The longer you examine the area, the less certain you become.
This is the central fascination of the photograph.
The original description of its growing popularity centers on a viewer noticing precisely this kind of inconsistency. What initially looked like a normal arrangement of two people became confusing when attention shifted from their faces and surroundings to their limbs.
The observation was small, but its effect was significant.
Once the unusual positioning was pointed out, other viewers reportedly began examining the same part of the image.
