What do we see when we look at a photograph? Do we expect to see a representation of actual events, or do we allow the photographer some artistic licence? In the age of photo-editing software and digital photography, how can the maxim “the camera never lies” be true?

Art, says Justin Mullins, whose recent exhibition Mathematical Photography: an exhibition of the world’s most beautiful equations has intrigued journalists from sources as varied as The Guardian and the London Mathematical Society. Surprisingly, Mullins is not a mathematician; he regards himself as a kind of “photographer”, retracing the steps of “great explorers returning from distant shores with tales of fantastic lands and magical creatures”. His presentation of equations as works of art is certainly striking, but what emotions do these pieces inspire in their observers?