“Reality is to be found in lightness and darkness.” ~Pablo Picasso
Have you ever thought about who you are behind your need to please, your need to look good to the world, your desire to be perfect? Which is more authentic, the self we let others see….or our shadow selves, the darker (or maybe lighter) parts of our being?
If you thought I might have any wise words about being true to oneself or presenting an authentic face to the world, you would be mistaken. I am on a journey to find out what is true for me. You’ll certainly have to do your own work in that arena.
In the meantime, I’m obsessed with shadows and the interplay of light and dark. What I pick up in my photography mirrors what I am searching for within. Creativity is like that. It often brings out the exact issues or conundrums in ourselves that we are consciously (or subconsciously) needing to work on.
I took the first photograph, above, a little over a year ago at Lake Powell, Arizona. It was a cloudy and windy day. It shows that I needed to lose weight. (Okay, okay! I’ll stop being hard on myself.) Honestly, I just liked the looooong shadow that my body cast on the pavement.
The next two photos were taken a couple of days ago in Sedona, Arizona on a hike in the red rocks with my sweetheart. It was a particular sunny and warm winter morning. I’m not sure what they tell me other than that there were more shadows than people on the trail that day. But I like the light and dark they reflect. Much like me.
January 20, 2014 at 8:37 am
Each shadow of yours is a clue/facet. But I think it takes a lot to be clued in…[smiles]