Travel Theme: Shadows

Ailsa’s Travel Theme for this week is Shadows.

Do I like shadows? Many times, the shadows just fall on my subject of interest leaving them in the dark or partially in the dark. In those cases, I only have the option of taking a bad picture or not at all. Sometimes, you clearly knew that, you may only pass through this place only once in a life time. So, reluctantly, you took a picture, hoping it may come out alright.

Other times, a shadow may make things more interesting. It may add to the atmosphere or making things more real by giving readers an idea where light is coming from and what funny shadow it casts. I like taking pictures with long shadows but I only have a few of those.

In this collection, I hope to show how shadows add to the picture rather than being a negative.

While walking the narrow streets in Lithuania, I noticed that the street was covered in the shadow resulting in the left hand side having a darker color contrasting with the bright color and details on the right hand side.

While strolling the shores of Hvar island, Croatia, we came across these white balustrades with interesting grey shadows.

The coastline of Hvar island never failed to impress us, these unoccupied benches by the seaside looked inviting. Their shadows imparted a sense of loneliness.

We found this garden by the side of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The fountain was delightful; but I also like the tree with its shadows on the grass.

Walking around downtown Zurich, there was this statute casting a shadow in the background, making this statute really stood out three dimensionally from the background.

Down under in Australia, we enjoyed the tranquility of Lake Barrine not far from Cairnes. The boat trip on the lake brought us close to trees on the landside, with branches hanging down to the water. While the trees were in the shadows, the aquatic plants and lilies just stood out from the dark background as if the light have chosen just to illuminate them.

We have always enjoyed travelling to Langkawi, Malaysia. The setting sun was low down almost touching the sea. It cast long shadows on the chairs and tables by the beach side.

Again in Langakwi, the palm created a wavy but interesting shadow on the white sand on which it stood.

Last year, on our way to the YunGang Grotto, China viewing some of the biggest buddhas, we passed through this bridge which leads into the site. The bridge piers were basically in a shadow. Still, it couldn’t hide the fine details on the piers.

My pictures with shadows were taken mainly to highlight the portions not covered by the shadows. I must admit that the shadows in the pictures are not the main subject but help to enhance the overall quality. An inspiration from this Travel Theme is that, in future, I should also be shooting pictures with interesting shadows as the main subject.