Telling a story with shadows

Well, life continues to take me away from blogging, but I have found some time to get one submitted to the weekly Photo Challenge from Frank at Dutch Goes the Photo.

Shadow is a key attribute of good photos, as it helps paint the scene and set the mood, even more than light will at times. For good photography, it is important to pay attention to shadows and notice how they help compose the image that we really want to show to the viewer. An excellent article that goes into how shadow can be used to work the various aspects of a photo So, my challenge to you is to become more aware of shadows; this doesn’t mean that you have to go all serious and deep, as a photo that uses shadow can be playful…

This week the challenge relates to the use of shade in a photo. Having a glance through my photos I saw the usual ones such as buildings, trees, and landscapes in general. Then I was reminded of some photos I took some years ago (so the quality is not that stellar) of some school kids involved in an art installation at the Gallery of Modern Art here in Brisbane. A film of a country scene with some cockatoos flying across the screen. There was a second projector which allowed the kids to use their hands to contribute to that setting. The third photo I think is the best — if you look up into the right hand corner, you’ll see a set of hands and its reflection on the screen. I watched this for some time, as it was one of the best installations I had seen in a long time.

Click on one of the photos for a better view and more content.

The start of the film. Cockatoos flying across the screen.

The students assemble to become a part of the art installation.

Film and humans contributing to the success of the installation. Note the set of hands in the upper right hand the shadows of which are a part of the scene.