Max Aguilera-Hellweg approaches photography with the mind of an abstract mathematician and the heart of an artist. His futuristic photographs play at the edge of science and imperfection. As part of our "Through the Lens" series, we spoke with Hellweg-Aguilera to find out what makes him tick.

The first photograph that mattered to me was one that I found in the gutter, on the edge of the sidewalk on the street in Chetumal, Mexico. This was back in 1973, when I had just graduated from high school, and I was already serious about photography.

It was the bottom half of a photograph of a couple, just from the waist down—a wedding photograph or one taken at some formal event.

The woman was wearing