Shadow weaving

Shadows to me represent the essence of structures and forms, at once abstract yet with enough information for the mind to process and form some sort of associations with things you see and experience day to day. This could be the city you live in, the food you eat, the people you meet, the place you work, and so on. I think is something that all abstract art achieves, even with the works that seek to be completely non-representational. It's just human nature to form associations, or 'look' for things in abstract art. Just ask our resident psychiatrist, IVV, who likely would disagree with some of what I'm saying, but thats the fun of such discussions. At least that is my interpretation of it. One only has to look at Franz Kline's works and the associations with New York City are obvious. Even Rothko's fuzzy's shapes can have associations with urban shapes, decaying or moss laden walls, and so on. Shadows create interesting negative space, geometric forms and graphic patterns.

A note of contradiction (by IVV): I am writing this about 36 hours after the original post, having re-read it several times. I am intruding on his post, because (a) he is ok with it, and (b) because I would prefer to place these arguments within the body of this piece, rather than as a comment and (c) because I can! As Aditya predicted, I do disagree with several of his assertions. This is not to imply that he is wrong, or that I am right, but that there are different perspective on these themes. Shadows, in general, are not a major topic of discussion in psychology or psychiatry literature - largely, because psychic constructs are based more on image. (e.g. Kohut's work on self-image or Lacan's musings on fear of the image). Shadow doesnt find it's way into this. Personally, I also disagree with the assertion that a shadow represents 'essence'. It is superficial visual impression, rather than a distillation of a complex theme, which to my mind, is what essence means. Finally, while humans do tend to seek associations and meaning, I would not attribute this to 'human nature' - I would contest the existence of such a thing - all nature is eventually subjective, and largely at the mercy of biological, psychological and social factors that are mostly out of our control. The construct of 'human nature' seems a relatively flimsy way of 'normalizing' our need to deal with the anxiety of trying to grasp things we can't quite explain.

That's enough psychobabble and quasi-academic rambling. Back to what Aditya was saying...

Here are some images that I have captured over the years that build upon this theme.

bellezza.it

If you were to play a word-association game at looking at this last picture and the word 'cheesy' came to mind, let's just say it's the right place, in a gastronomic sense but of course! Italy is all those superlatives that people use to describe it. The architecture especially, is too kind to even the most casual of photographers, as it really does not give any room to "screw-up" a picture. The mundane as it were is probably more rarefied than say ozone above the Antarctic in context of the built form. This collection of pictures represents my attempt to go off the beaten track in a sense of composition. The hope with this set is that it inspires you to go make yourself some fettuccine alfredo. If on the other hand you go shortly hereafter to look for Domino'c coupons then, well, you have the choicest Italian hand-gestures awaiting you. You may not see them, but you will feel them.

Shaken, not stirred!

...was fiddling with some long exposure settings in the car the other day, and accidentally clicked with the shutter set to a 30-second exposure. I immediately placed the camera on the dashboard, with an interesting result!

Reminded me of a similar incident last year. I was photographing a firework display from a sidewalk, when a passerby bumped the tripod. Although I expressed my displeasure rather strongly to the person at that time, I later found the disrupted image to be be the most interesting one from the evening. (In case passerby-who-bumped-the-tripod chances upon this, and recalls the incident, please know that I regret my choice of adjectives!)

The vagaries of chance, one supposes...

I Don't Know Her...

"One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace,
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.


And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!"

Lines from Lord Byron's - 'She Walks In Beauty'

Daylight Savings

One of the things that is always up for debate is what is the best time of the day to take photographs. Or do dramatic photographs depend on the time of the day. Naturally, this topic is applicable mostly to outdoor shots, though some indoor shots with filtered light from the early morning/late evening time-frame are equally spectacular.

This was one of the topics in a photography course I took at UNC Chapel Hill last spring, and it meant shooting the same scene at different times of the day. It also meant that I had to head out to the same spot six times that day, which was quite interesting, and is one of the reasons that my wife won't take the same course :). A few people who saw me there more than once asked me what in the world I was up to, and didn't seem to think much of the assignment. The results left quite an impression on me, and it was clear that some of the best (and most dramatic) photos depend on the time of the day, dawn and dusk being the best of the lot. This also means a short amount of time to shoot, and sometimes getting up at unearthly hours to get the shot. Obviously is better to take the photograph, whatever the time of the day, than to not capture it at all. I'd also say the effort to catch these windows of light is totally worth it.

Here are the results. All these shots were taken using a tripod, at ISO 100 and aperture f/22 for the landscape aspect of the scene.

7:15 am & 10 am

12 pm & 2 pm

4 pm & 6 pm

Bullet the Blue Sky...

Ultimately, we spend little time contemplating how little control we have over our images, and the extent to which we are at the mercy of factors completely beyond our grasp!

For instance, a dull gray or cloudless blue sky can take something away from the most dramatic/interesting landscapes...

...whereas a lively sky can transform even the most non-specific picture!