Shadow Self

When I first picked up a camera, coming from years of painting, sculpture, and printmaking, I always wondered how I could put myself physically within the image. How could I show my “hand”? A question that I always think about, how can a photograph connect the inside – our thoughts and emotions, to the outside – our physical surroundings?

Many photographers avoid getting themselves into their images. I left it to chance. Sometimes it’s like a game. If my shadow is there, how can I include it as an element, an abstraction, helping to break up the frame? Two photographers, Lee Friedlander and Arthur Tress, did many images with their shadows included within the frame. This time of year, autumn, when the the days are short and the sun hangs low in the sky, has become one of my favorite times for photography. The light is somewhat harsh. Shadows play and intermingle within the scene.