Shadows

I noticed these shadows and I knew it meant it was sunny.

-- David Hockney, Artist        

By Donna Poulton

My earliest memory of shadows is from a time when I was three or four-years-old lying on my grandmother’s couch for an afternoon nap. I would watch the shadows of the Aspen leaves skipping and playing across the living room walls.  Even at that age I appreciated the ambiguity;  they were small good-natured shadows, but they were shadows.

Cañón shadows—Navaho, Credit: Edward S. Curtis, Library of Congress

Into the shadow—Clayoquot,  Credit: Edward S. Curtis, Library of Congress

Shadows, Crow Agency, Montana c. 1905, Credit: Library of Congress

Ranch in Montana, Credit: Library of Congress

Texas, Shadow of Oil Derrick on Sand Hills, Credit: Library of Congress

There are infinite shadings of light and shadows and colors... it's an extraordinarily subtle language. Figuring out how to speak that language is a lifetime job. 

-- Conrad Hall, Cinematographer         

Fence at Four Corners, Credit: Wenzday01

Cedar Shadows on Snow Covered Slopes, Credit: Library of Congress

Lookout Tower, Montana Credit: mattspinner

Shadow of the Cross, Credit: Bryan Davidson

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. 

-- Walt Whitman