A recurring theme in my photography is what I call “a thing and its shadow,” which is most pronounced and available for capture in late afternoon. But sometimes I like to make photographs of just the shadows of things, without any visible thing(s) in the composition.
Shadows are graphical, abstract, blurry around the edges, yin and yang, intriguing, and a little mysterious. A photograph of the shadow of a thing is a guessing game — the viewer’s mind immediately wants to imagine or deduce what it was that cast the shadow!
It’s all about the time of day and the sun’s position. Midday shadows are minimal as the sun bathes everything in an even light, so there’s no point in hunting for shadows to shoot. I love how shadows lengthen (assuming the sun’s out) as the day winds down, especially in the “golden hour” just before sunset, when the sun gets low and projects shadows onto walls and other vertical surfaces.
Sure, you could say that long shadows exist the early morning, but aside from rarely getting up that early, I prefer the warm, yellow-orange-red tones of afternoon shadows. Don’t you?
Camera: Polaroid SLR 680SE (vintage)
Film: Polaroid 600 Color instant film (new)
Photographer: Russ Murray (vintage)
Location: Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT
See you tomorrow…
russ murray 