Contemplating Shadows

Kelly mineshaft detail, Kelly, NM, June 2012

Hollow tree, Magdalena mountains, NM, June 2012

To contemplate is to look at shadows.
-Victor Hugo


Thanks to my cousin Jarrod for this quote; it has inspired some interesting photo explorations recently. Two recent hikes took me into the Magdalena mountains, where the hard summer midday light creates strong contrasts that overpower subtleties of form and tone. But it also creates stark shadows that I've always found compelling. Like most (all? I never did take art history or art appreciation courses in college) visual art forms, photography is about light and form, which means it is also about shadows. Shadows reveal the contours of things, and of the hollows they leave behind. Shadows simplify and reduce, or stretch and distort, revealing the complex interplay between things and light. Shadows hide, conceal, shelter, and also imply the essence of both forms and those who view and interpret them.

Kelly mineshaft detail, Kelly, NM, June 2012