College student creates mind-bending photo series with Seth Rogen

[One college student took advantage of Seth Rogen’s trips to his school to create an mind-bending photo series / WhyHopOnPop/Reddit]

Actor and comedian Seth Rogen is likely used to being the funniest guy in the room, so it must have come as a pleasant surprise when a college student’s clever photo gag got Rogen grinning.

The actor has long been a committed advocate for the research and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. His wife’s mother suffers from the illness, and Rogen made a much publicized plea before congress to bring attention to the need to better fund research in the area.

Four years ago, Seth and his wife started Hilarity for Charity, an organization that, among other things, holds a conference that sees various colleges compete to win a school visit from Rogen. Whoever raises the most money for charity wins.

The University of Vermont has won that contest three years in a row, and as such, Rogen has visited the school for three consecutive years.

One creative student decided to use the visits to make a meta work of photo art. On Rogen’s first visit, the student had his photo taken with the actor. When Rogen showed up for the second time, the student was ready with a blown up copy of the photo from the previous year. The two men were snapped with Rogen happily holding the older photo.

This year, the student brought the second photo, and had a third photo taken in which the two men can be seen grinning together, the second photo proudly displayed in Rogen’s hand. The effect created — a photo within a photo within a photo — is known as the Droste effect, and rarely has it been used to such comedic effect.

Whoever this student is, he certainly was committed to the long game, and in the end, it paid off. In the first photo, Rogen looks like he’s doing his celebrity duty, posing for a photo with the requisite smile. In the second, he looks amused, and in the third, he appears genuinely excited about the student’s surprising commitment to a three year gag.

Here’s to hoping that UVM wins the challenge again next year, so we can see this Rogen wormhole get just a little bit deeper.