When shadow = your subject

[Heroique]

How often have you treated shadows as your principal subject?

I’d enjoy seeing your photos, and what drew your attention to ... the darkness.

This winter scene in Seattle bewitched me: It’s a Big Leaf Maple projecting skeletal-like shadows on a lonesome field. Perhaps I didn’t use the best film for the shot – Polaroid Type 55. In my experience, such a contrasty film often hides details under ink-black shadows – as happened just below the tree’s crown. But lower down, enough bark and grass showed up in the shadows to please me.

Tachi 4x5
Schneider XL 110mm/5.6
Polaroid Type 55
¾ sec. @ f22
(Opened-up ½ stop for reciprocity)
Camera level and neutral
Epson 4990

[eddie]

here is a serious i did last winter. i used my 4x5 pinhole camera. 75mm "focal length" f216.

not sure which i like the best. which one do you like the best?

eddie

[Erik Larsen]

I like to play with shadows and high contrast stuff as well. Sometimes I like really harsh light and underexpose a bit to get detail less shadows which just print as a deep black. Not everyones cup of tea but I enjoy doing it.
regards
Erik

[Heroique]

here is a serious i did last winter. i used my 4x5 pinhole camera. 75mm "focal length" f216.

not sure which i like the best. which one do you like the best?

eddie

Wow! All four photos are superbly fear-provoking.

Like each tree is observing its Dark Side in a mirror.

[jnantz]

i always shoot shadows with smaller formats
but only once in a while have a LF ready when the shadows
appear ...

[C. D. Keth]

here is a serious i did last winter. i used my 4x5 pinhole camera. 75mm "focal length" f216.

not sure which i like the best. which one do you like the best?

eddie

I feel like the tree is sneaking up on the house.

[redrockcoulee]

My wife's MFA is all about shadows. I am amazed that with the number of shadow images she has taken these last two years that there are any left for the rest of you to take

[Steve Gledhill]

How often have you treated shadows as your principal subject?
...

Not often - but here are a couple:

• The first is a sort of negative shadow picture.
• The second is the shadow of a handrail on a flight of stone steps - looking down.

[Heroique]

A few viewers of the initial post were curious about the Big Leaf Maple’s Seattle location. It was in Volunteer Park.

However, I have some unhappy news to report. (Parents may wish to hide their children’s eyes before clicking the thumbnails below.)

The city took down the tree. Imagine my grief on this day. Apparently, someone thought it wasn’t rooted well enough, and might fall on people who gathered under its magnificent summer shade. (I took these photos only weeks after the winter-shadow shot, with a Nikon FM3a camera and 35mm f/2 AIS lens.)

[eddie]

Not often - but here are a couple:

• The first is a sort of negative shadow picture.
• The second is the shadow of a handrail on a flight of stone steps - looking down.

awesome "negative shadow"!

A few viewers of the initial post were curious about the Big Leaf Maple’s Seattle location. It was in Volunteer Park.

However, I have some unhappy news to report. (Parents may wish to hide their children’s eyes before clicking the thumbnails below.)

The city took down the tree. Imagine my grief on this day. Apparently, someone thought it wasn’t rooted well enough, and might fall on people who gathered under its magnificent summer shade. (I took these photos only weeks after the winter-shadow shot, with a Nikon FM3a camera and 35mm f/2 AIS lens.)

too bad.....just goes to show people are stupid! it was probably fine.......