Archive for January 20th, 2010

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Me and My Shadow


2010
01.20

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Posted in Art, General, Photography | 2 Comments »

We’re still in Creative Every Day’s Body month.  Last night, during this ever-lasting photo-sorting project, I came across a wonderful photo of the Bakersfield Six less One (Xavier was just barely born). That’s what I call my six grandkids who live in Bako.  We were at the beach in Ventura in 2000.  More reflections on body sprung into mind – the physical body, yes, but the spiritual body also.

I started thinking shadows.

Have you ever noticed that wherever you go, your shadow goes too?  Duh, of course, you say.  Anyone ever tell you after you’ve been ill that you look like a shadow of your former self? Did you ever try to run from your shadow?  Have you been told to step out from behind your shadow? Is Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem My Shadow one of your favorites?  It was one of mine.

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.
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 errant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

Shadows show up everywhere.  Like in the lyrics for Everybody’s Talking at Me:


Everybody’s talking at me.
I don’t hear a word they’re saying,
Only the echoes of my mind.
People stopping staring,
I can’t see their faces,
Only the shadows of their eyes.

Lots of negative connotations in shadows: escape from your shadow, run from your shadow, shadow of your former self, shadows of their eyes.   I played around with the photos a little.

How about life?  We can move so fast that we (and our shadows) are a blur.  No time to think about where we’ve been or where we’re going, let alone concentrate on the present.  Moving so fast that our shadows become indistinguishable from ourselves.

Or remaining so static that we become shadow people – shadow ghosts.  An empty life.

Besides reflecting on shadows themselves, I just liked the image so much – the expression in the five little bodies – the twins on the left, obviously relating to each other somehow, the two oldest on the right with Ali pointing out something to Sarah, and Dax in the middle.  All of them seemingly unconcerned about the approaching wave although it appears they aren’t in swim suits.  So I decided to do a journal page as a small study of something I may turn into a bigger collage.  Instead of using a negative connotation, I turned it around into stepping out of one’s shadow into embracing your own body and self.  I’ve spread the kids out to give them more independence.

Photos are full of stories, both real and imagined.  I’ve talked about that a bit on the “About” page of my webpage, as well as a former blog post on how to photograph people.  And Taking Better Photos of People, Part Two.