Three Grades of Shadow by Chipka
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Description
Though light allows me to see things clearly—and in glorious color!—I’m more drawn (in some ways, at least) to darkness. On the brightest days, I seek shadows. I love warmth and beaches, but I much prefer the dappled shadows beneath a tree. Darkness, as I’ve come to recognize it, allows senses other than sight to come into full use. Darkness, I have learned, has a different feel, a richer texture, and a profoundly subtle sound.
My love of darkness will invariably draw my eye to shadows. When I am armed with my camera, I find myself drawn to low-light conditions and shots that—by the very nature of photography—run the risk of murky under-exposure. My love of darkness, is perhaps, intimate to my love of woodlice; they live in dark and damp environments, after all—in places where smell is more useful than sight, where sound and tactile vibrations reveal more than dark-adapted eyes may ever reveal.
At times, as I meander through the labyrinth of downtown Chicago, I find myself sticking to the shadows; my excuse is that shadows are cooler on hot summer days, but even in winter, I stick to the lee-sides of buildings, sheltered from the harshest overhead light, like a Bram Stoker-style vampire avoiding the sun. There’s a whole story in that, but it’ll have to wait until later to find expression. At any rate, when meandering through Chicago’s business-district core, I find myself drawn to the shadows.
I kept to the shadows a few weeks ago, while walking around with Corey, looking for photographic subjects (including and not limited to rather feminine pieces of artwork.) I photographed shadows, and as our meandering drew to a close. The sun settled to the west, casting long shadows eastward, like fingers drawing night’s fullest darkness slowly and inexorably from the east. I saw the dance of shadows at play with light. I saw details visible only when day arrives at its inevitable close. I saw Gothic architecture in its full glory as western sunlight slanted down a narrow east/west street. Darkness—a dear friend of mine—promised full and glorious arrival, not as storm clouds gathering, but simply as old and stony buildings falling into twilight. I was—as you can imagine—quite happy with what I saw. This is an example of it.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting; and—as always—I hope you’re having a great week.
Comments (29)
KatesFriend
It's interesting how the darkness seems to hide inside these old stone buildings even when the full gory of the sun drenches them in light. These buildings always seem dark no matter what time of the day it is. Streets with many stone buildings can be like canyons of darkness even at high noon. Here the darkness briefly retreats in through the windows and into the very pores of the stone itself. Like your vampire - waiting for the light to pass on its merry way so that it can creep out of its refuge and take back it realm once more. Old cities have many dark memories I suppose. Beautiful contrast in this shot, it contains much detail in spite of the broad range of light levels taken in by the exposure.
Charberry
Wonderful show of light, dark, architecture, and seems like a protective cove against the rest of the world.
MrsRatbag
It's the tween-times that make the best shots, the play of light fighting off the encroaching darkness...this is exactly that dynamic, and a wonderful mixture of cool and warm colours. Well done you!
FunkyShaman
I started to write that it's only in the darkness that we can appreciate the light for all it's true beauty...but then I realized I meant to write it the other way around...then I realized they were both right...hee hee...the beautiful dance of the two that is one... Beautiful capture, beautiful words...a definite new favorite!
MagikUnicorn
Impressive... Good eyes
MrsLubner
This lighting is really amazing. Stellar!
faroutsider
Spoken like a true woodlouse! I love the almost abstract repeating forms, and the light/shade is superb.
Crabbycabby
Great work. The lighting makes the place most sinister.
blinkings
I love a good urban architectural shot. Well done on this.
whaleman
A necessary part of city shots and very important!
helanker
WHat a fantastic light and shade in this shot. WOnderful colors. I am not the biggest sun worshipper myself. I prefare shade.
Sepiasiren
The shadow play here is glorious--makes the ey travel all over the place--love how this imagery has a "story" and feel--not unlike your other works--really like this!
durleybeachbum
The complementary colours of the sun/shade are great! The buildig on the left sends me off to my fabric stash..I must make something with the piece I have in those blue tones!
carlx
Excellent light-shadow, tones and graphism!!! Superb photography and textures, too!!!
lick.a.witch
This is a real stunner! ^=^
lucindawind
fabulous colours and shadows ..wonderful composition !
flavia49
superb capture!!
nikolais
looks like a trap to me... great dramatic capture, Chip!
kgb224
Stunning capture my friend.
beachzz
The buildings of a city create their own special atmosphere. There's something different around every corner; and you caught that feeling so well here. Wind tunnels, places that see no light, and very possibly, strange creatures lurking in hidden recesses. Great shot, Chip! Guess you wouldn't be surprised to know I seek the sun and the light everywhere I go!!
marybelgium
wonderful lighting !
ironsoul
Excellent photo and comments, thanks for sharing.
sandra46
I ADORE YOUR BUILDINGS, THE LIGHT-AND-DARK OF THE WINDOWS AND THE SHADOWS THEY PROJECT ON EACH OTHER! TERRIFIC URBAN MOOD AS ALWAYS!
pauldeleu
Wonderful capture.
myrrhluz
I clicked on to your image, zoomed in and got a message saying my internet was down. Sigh. But if I'm going to get stuck on an image, I couldn't have picked a better one. I love this! It strikes a chord deeply in the core of what I find aesthetically pleasing, eliciting a response of "Aaaahhhh!" After an initial period of pure pleasure with no thought of analysis, I studied the elements that added up to this instantaneous reaction. The color. I've always loved how blues and browns interact. They join to make excellent quilts. The textures and stripes on the blue building, and the way it is reflected in the blue shaded windows in the tan building. The single light in the darkened room. The cube like appearance of the one window in the bottom of the blue building, that isn't covered in a shade. The cool blue against the glowing tan with an orderly progression of dark geometric shapes across it's surface that lead to a swath of darkness. The play of light and shadows on the tan surface is fascinating. I love the softness of the texture of the blue building and the far right strip of the tan building. There is such delicacy in the variations of the blues and tans. When I paint, I often make little changes to my colors, working to get the small differences I see. I soon have a line of slightly different shades. That's what I see on the far right and far left of this image. In the middle it is the glory of light and shadow. The same physical shapes molded into different appearance by the light. Superb textures and contrast! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! I love this! I wrote this 2 days ago. Life without internet. sigh. I'm way beyond behind on comments.
auntietk
That late-afternoon light is such a gift, isn't it? This is a gorgeous, glorious shot. The shadows make it. The hard edges of shadow against light, the softer vibe of concrete in deeper shadow, the juxtaposition of the two as seen on one building. Excellent!
minos_6
The shadow covering the right half of the building is almost palpably textured, and I can't tell whether this is a result of post work, or the conditions on the day. This is certainly an interesting capture, more full of shadows than anything else, in spite of the intense sunlight. I too have an interest in the play between light and darkness, and it's always more intense around this type of architecture. Excellent!
praep
WOW - great to see this color-differences in the shadows. Well seen.
sawade
Hi Chip, evening here and I look at the full size of your wonderful photo. I like it, to see your town with your eyes. A scene good for a movie. An american movie naturally, which I like. And what has happened behind the many windows in these houses in the many years? Your title "Three grades of shadow" would be a good title for a novel, perhaps for a City-novel by T.C. Boyle. All the best, Bernd