Photo Challenge: In The SHADOW
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Abraham Lincoln
Photo Challenge: In the Shadow
My Shadow By Robert Louis Stevenson via PoetryFoundation
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all. Continued Below
What is your memory of the shadow/shadows? In case you are wondering, we now have the weekly photo challenge on Wednesdays instead of Fridays. It works for me this week because, yesterday, we had a major emergency at home that threw my entire day into one chaotic, watery mess. Everything is under control now but, the aftermath is still being handled and for that I am grateful. That said, the topic for this photo challenge took me back to a favorite childhood poem that I always enjoyed reciting: My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson. I have included it in block quotes above and below. The photo challenge and poem brought back playful memories of dancing and goofing off with childhood friends, in the sun and shade, as we tried to create all sorts of shadowy shapes and figures. In the world of psychology, the shadow has a much more powerful role and each of us have our share of archetypes and shadows that encourage or discourage us.
What is a shadow? According to Wikipedia, a shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It is divided into the umbra, penumbra and antumbra. which determine the point of light cast by the shadow. The sun plays an important part in how shadows are cast and it changes throughout the day. The depth of our created shadow also depends on our location and what else is around us. When the Earth casts a shadow on the moon, it is called a lunar eclipse. On the other hand, when the Moon casts a shadow on the Earth, it is a solar eclipse. Such a fascinating subject with much more to learn.
More below!
“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Photo Challenge: In the Shadow
My Shadow By Robert Louis Stevenson via PoetryFoundation Stanza I & II above
He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
What about you and your experiences? I have to admit that I’ve always been fascinated with shadows and how they reflect an image in a different light, and cast a hue over a real image by smoothing out certain portions and creating a distorted, reverse and darker image. Shadows can be fun too for kids; if you ever saw the nutty, British puppet show Punch and Judy in shadowy relief, you’d really come to understand how our shadow reveals portions of ourselves in sane and sinister ways… Hope you enjoyed my images with shadows in them.
This post was inspired by a prompt from WP Weekly Photo Challenge Post: – SHADOW – This week, hunt for shadows and incorporate them into your shot. The shadow can be the focal point of the image, or simply a detail that adds texture and makes the scene a bit more dynamic. We look forward to your submissions!
Have a relaxing day!
Positive Motivation Tip: Stay true to who you are and embrace your shadow self.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All other Photos from my personal collection.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
Shadows can be work of arts! I think as a kid I played around with my shadow a few times, lots of fun, even now playing with my kids… we are fascinated with our shadows.
Shadows can be pretty cool. I personally have always loved shadow puppets. Some people are so talented when they make some!
This is such a great idea! Doing photo challenges like this will definitely help stimulate your mind and how you see things, very creative.
I’ve always been fascinated by how people can bring shadows to life by positioning their hands in a certain way. While I was in Italy, a street performer put together a show doing just that, it was very impressive.
I think that shadows are amazing, they give such a dramatic experience to photographs. They also give an amazing feeling to real life, when the sun starts setting and it’s a pinkish light with deep shadows, you get this great rush of emotions.
I love taking photos and showcasing the shadows! It makes for a nice contrast or reflection picture without the need for water! My favorite time to take shadow pics is either in the early morning with the sunrise or late sunset since the shadows tend to be extended greatly! Also, I love standing in the shadow of something blocking the sun and getting the reflection of the object coming towards me creating some amazing symmetry!
I never gave much thought to shadows, but there is something mysterious and interesting about them. I will have to try this photo challenge. I hope your emergency is ok now! Sounds like it was very frustrating.
Shadows are really interesting and when you get into photography that can actually add an edge to the photo.
This was a lovely post and it was fun to see how you connected this week’s word both with the poem you so loved and the memories you made as a child. Shadow play is such a universal fun for children – mine love it too.
I love when I am able to capture shadows in a photograph. I feel it gives it more depth and story. I used to love doing shadow play as a child, learning how to use my hands to create different animals!
I remember the Robert Louis Stevenson poem from childhood too. I always liked it. I can remember being fascinated with my shadow as a child, I would always try to out-walk or out run it. I love how your post always bring up great childhood memories for me!
I have a few photos of me and my dog’s shadows. It is so much fun, my dog looks as big as a husky in the photo when in fact, his belly is only a few inches from the ground. I have been fascinated by shadows since I was a child and they are sometimes a favorite photo op subject. I have to find a nice well lit place tonight and take more photos!
I love your positive motivation tips at the bottom. I’m so terrible at capturing shadows or anything interesting in my photos. I need to learn to be more creative when it comes to taking photos as I always just go with what I know.
We can define shadow by every means. A diminished light caused by the blocking of a light source, a protection, a shelter… a ghost. And some say if we look at it psychologically, a shadow is the unknown dark side of our personality. Whatever it is, for me shadow is the shade that I used to play in the dark with my hands doing some shape of a dog, cat, rabbit and different shadowy shapes and figures.
I really enjoyed reading this – and I love poetry. Great photos.
I love your shadow pics. My kids like to do shadow drawings. They will go outside and find something that is creating a shadow, stick a huge piece of paper under it, and draw it.
I really like shadows and find that they make images and art more interesting. There is something appealing about the shadows and the contrast between light and darkness. Shadows might life more interesting.
I just love all your photos! I have never really thought about taking pics of shadows. What a great idea!
I’ve also been fascinated by shadows! Esp very interesting architecture products very interesting shadows. Also stained glasses of churches creates such gorgeous shadows!!!
Love your point of view about shadows! Amazing quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. “Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” Shadow helps to see the reality!
Lovely photographs. My brothers and I used to make shadow characters using our hands when we were little, gave us hours of fun!
I have never really thought much of a shadow. I laugh now when my daughter was younger, she would run to see if her shadow was still behind her.
These are great photos, you did a great job with this challenge.
There’s a saying out there about light and dark and that light would be indistinguishable if we didn’t have darkness. I think these contrasts can really give you perspective on beauty too. Not physical beauty, but the beauty in nature and things that contrast…and of course shadows. I for lone love to watch the shadows of trees swaying in the breeze on the wall of my office. It’s very pretty for me.
I enjoyed reading about what you did in your childhood. I see shadows as a reflection of a different me.
Isn’t that the same guy who wrote Treasure Island? What an insightful man, loved reading this as always hun xx
As kids we use chalk to capture our shadows on the concrete. As an adult and weekend amateur photographer shadows drive me crazy. I’m always trying to get away from them. lol……Great pictures.
“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” Martin Luther King, Jr. I absolutely love this quote! It’s so true! There is always so much more than what meets the eye!
When I was a kid, I used to get fascinated by the fact that, how my shadow was taller than me and I see the same wonder in my 4 year old’s eyes.
I love the quote from Abraham lincoln about a shadow and a tree. Great quotes are so veey inspiring.
I love shadow photography as in I love capturing silhouettes more than portraits. Always adds an interesting perspective when you try to capture the shadows!
Shadows always remind me of darker times! Thankfully shadows go away with sunlight so dark times will always pass
My kids love watching their shadows move and jump and follow them around. It’s so cute seeing little people discover things like that for the first time.
I love the shapes shadows create on the walls as the sun is rising or going down. It’s like my room is coming to life or going to sleep without a word from me.
Such an interesting topic to cover! I used to do a lot of songwriting years ago and I would definitely find inspiration from shadows and how you can create meanings behind each one when I was writing.
Amanda
My son has been fascinated with his shadow lately, and it is so comical and interesting to me just to watch him play trying to catch it. I will have to try to take a photo of him while he is running after his own shadow ha ha
Talk about kismet. I once visited RLS house when I was a child in California and swore I saw a ghost.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. <—This is so profound! I have never thought of it like this before!
Shadows are definitely a wonderful photo challenge focus. I always love the way the size and shades vary depending on angle and time of day.
What a cool challenge. I love working with shadows because they’re so easy to manipulate into something that many people will perceive differently.
I love when I get a picture and it has an incredible shadow image in it. It is truly one of the beautiful things about nature!
I love this post. It’s so authentic and original. I think of shadows as my past experiences, always wandering around and peeping out when the timing is right. It’s a part of you, but not tangible. xoxo
I have never really thought about my shadow, per se, but I do like looking at the shadows of clouds as they cross over a mountain. I think that is so beautiful and peaceful.
As a kid, I definitely enjoyed looking at shadows and making shapes through the light. It changed when I was growing up and horror films started playing with shadows to add to the scare factor, lol. I like how you captured the shadows in the pictures.
That poem brings back memories for me as well. I remember at university, we had to organize a play for Literature class so we decided to do a “play” on Peter Pan. We used lines from different poems as the script and “My Shadow” was one of them. So when you mentioned shadow, I thought about Peter Pan and that play. 🙂
Many a times , I have seen these shadow related photo-shoots. Photographers use the shadow effect create an illusion of something they wan to show. Its really innovative!
Very meaningful article. I never notice the importance of my shadow or my shadow’s reflection to my life.. after reading this it gave me a lot to think! it looks like i will be up all night tonight lol
Shadows always annoy me when I am taking pictures in the afternoon. I need to work a shadow into my photos for fun.
Sorry to hear about your major emergency at home. You captured some great pictures of people’s shadows!
This was an interesting post brought me back to when my grandson first experienced his own shadow… He was so scared of it until he learned that it was his own reflection. We started looking for books, songs, poems and everything about shadows till he started to try and catch his own shadow, was so funny.
When I was a teacher, I had my students memorize that poem. That brought back good memories! I love shadows, but they sure frustrate my when I’m taking photos for my blog. I need photos with no shadows.
I grew up on this poetry. I remember my mother reading it to me.
I love taking shadow photography. Not that I am great at it but I do not mind, I love playing with shadows 🙂
That first quote from Abraham Lincoln really sets the tone for the whole post. It’s so true that your character is the real thing but we tend to be so concerned with what others think of us.
I’ve always been fascinated by shadows too, when they appear and when they disappear x
I love your idea of photo challenges, your photography is beautiful
Shadows are really interesting. It was difficult and often humorous when the kids were small and I’d try to explain what their shadow was.
I have always loved that poem! Shadows are so peculiar. They are so interesting to study as well when they are made from an interesting pattern in architecture or an object.
I haven’t spent too much thought on shadows since I was a kid. When I was young, I was fascinated by the existence of shadows.
The person and shadow are one but with different appearance. But both are equally important
Somehow, shadow is not only the dark that covers the light. It’s also shows our impact on what we do and what we have achieved.
Sorry to hear there was a big watery mess. Those are never fun. Shadows were a big deal to me when I was a kid. I honestly haven’t thought much about them in awhile. Perhaps I should. I certainly will notice the next one I see. 🙂
I am a big fan of Robert Louis Stevenson, and love this poem too. I had to smile at the words, umbra et al, I remember studying them as a kid; can’t remember what subject that would have been for though!
It would have been science… Love the poem too.
It’s amazing how we see a shadow of something (or someone) and we assume that because of it’s lining, it will be something greater than we imagined. Once you take the time to figure out what it really is, then you’ll notice it’s something small/simple. Nothing you ever imagined.
Indeed, that is life… things are not always as they seem. 🙂
that’s interesting!! shadows fascinate me since i watched peter pan, because he wanted to do something and his shadow something else
I love this post. i found it very interesting.
Such a cool quote by Martin Luther King! I really how you make a collage images of these shadows. Amazing!
Hey Elizabeth, I hope the water challenge is well and truly sorted.
Well what can I say about shadows, they are our spirit…when we age gone, we have no shadow! Also the shadow used to scare my little girl, she would run away from her lil shadow it made us laugh no end. What a memory. thanks for bringing it back 🙂
Julie syl
Thank you Julie, it is well. The insurers are handling it all. Be blessed. 🙂
I like this topic. Love your pictures. Light and shadow, opposite and complimentary.
Never really thought much about shadows. This has me interested in wanting to do shots specifically focused on capturing shadows. I’ve always tried to avoid them but for ‘fun shots’ I think it would be really cool!
This is very beautiful, I really like this post. Very interesting! Great work 🙂 xoxo
This is a wonderful post. I never thought about shadows a lot like this. I just know that my girls love to make shadows of their own. 🙂
I cherish my character and spend little time thinking about my reputation. It is as simple as that for me. I follow my inner guidance and leave people to their chatter.
Such a beautiful quote from Abraham Lincoln to start with and the pictures are good enough to related to the topic as well. Shadow definitely has a powerful role, you can experience the fun when kids react to shadows with fear or joy!
I like to see shadows as not all bad. They are rather like our past. We grow from our mistakes and our past to hopefully reach a better future and the light.
I like the first quote by Abraham Lincoln. It reminded me of a post I once saw from a popular finance personality, he said that we should focus more on building our character because our image will eventually follow.
❀ Grace ❀
Shadow in photography definitely a great additional beauty to enhance the photograph. Those quotes and poems speak deeper about life. Love how you capture the shadows on the photos.
I always love coming back to your blog. I’ve always been fascinated with shadows through trees. Can take the most amazing photographs with shadows.
This is such a fun challenge. When you can capture shadows it can be so pretty!
Very nice, as usual I love your photo challenge. It is really awesome idea.
So cool that you put a collage together like this. I love that they all have shadows but everything else is different!!
Love the quote by Martin Luther Kind Jr! I had never heard that one before!
Never thought about this, how shadows can overlay a slightly different, and maybe distorted, reality over an object. Really neat!
Chris
I have never thought about shadows. But you have given me something to contemplate this week.
The way the shadow falls on the floor or the background, or even on the subject can make or break a photograph. A great photographer knows how to use the shadow to create the best dramatic effects.
Love the way shadows change during the day, especially early in the morning. Let’s me think that the whole day is still in front of me 🙂
Great observation… I love that too
I’ve always loved the way light and shadow play. It”s my favorite thing to photograph when I’m going all artsy.
Katja xxx
I love playing with light too.
Shadows are always fascinating to me. When I was a kid, someone told, you shouldn’t look at shadows, you will loose weight if you do so. Sounds silly, but for the very reason, i used to constantly look at shadows to loose weight 😀
Hahaha! They do make us look slimmer. 😉
Oh how I love shadowy photos! I’ve been trying to do more of this effect in my food photos .. it adds a great bit of drams
Oh that sounds interesting. 🙂
As a kid, I was fascinated by my shadow. I loved it when my shadows look taller than me. I also loved your collage.
Thank you! I have similar childhood memories too.
deep thoughts, our shadow tells us the depth in our other side which goes only hen the moment goes dark and bad but comes when the moments are good and bright. a clear message. thanks for this.
Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Shadows have always been very interesting to me, they’re almost always present in different ways – something I could never fully understand.
Likewise… fascinating!