What's happening in artist land?

Long gap, no writing. Been busy putting together the blog for wowlookwhatigot.com, which has taken over my morning tea-drinking time. This seems like the first morning for a long time when I haven't felt I need to get up and start work right away. The promo video being almost done, we're dangerously close to being ready to launch the business... At the same time I'm applying for an  actual job (you know, the weird sort of thing where you do stuff and other people pay you money for it - strange concept). The sum effect being that life may be about to change drastically, or things may be about to stay absolutely the same, with the exception of my having wasted the last few months fruitlessly trying to develop a new business concept which no one is interested in and applying for a job I have no chance of getting. One hopes it is the former, of course.

The photo in question ... Are the branches on the left 3D ? Or is it just me ?
"Pond" by Helen Sear ... exhibition at Oriel Davies, Newtown, Powys

The other significant thing that seems to be happening - my vision seems to be changing  somehow. Which is to say, not my actual sight, thank goodness, but the way I'm seeing things. It's as if I've always known in an 'academic' sort of way that lighter areas aver shadowed areas (for instance I noticed this yesterday in a much enlarged photo of some leaves on a tree) are supposed to 'pop out' creating the illusion of depth. I use it all the time in my own paintings and indeed I've been told on several occasions that my paintings "really pop", and nodded appreciatively while not being able to see it myself. In fact I've assumed that I can't really see it myself because when it's my painting I've already spent hours behind it and am 'jaded'. On a few occasions over the last few weeks, though I've actually looked at some photos and paintings and noticed a real '3D' effect- as if I was actually looking at a stereogram, or watching a movie with 3D glasses (not that I've ever actually done that).

Now this raises a number of questions: is that actually the way everyone else sees, and I've been missing out all these years? Is it something which is peculiar to me, and I'm the odd one out? Am I in some way weird for being able to see this effect, or in some way weird for not having seen it for the last 50 years? Discuss!