Shadows

Artist Statement:

For this project, I had to take a photo that included the element of shadows. Last year, we had done an assignment similar to this when we did "shadows and reflections" and I remember having a hard time taking a good picture that included shadows but this time, it came pretty easy which I was very happy about. In order to take a good shadow picture, I need to keep in mind that a lot depended on the weather. By this I mean that the sun needed to be shining correctly in order for my picture to have a strong shadow. Knowing this, I made sure to go outside and take my photo while the sun was shining in the afternoon.

As I just said, I went outside with my dog after I got home from school, while it was still sunny. I wanted to use my dog as the subject of the photo because I was inspired by a picture that I saw in class of camels walking that had a strong shadow because it was taken from above. I was inspired by this picture because I like the animal shadows and how you could see the exact silhouette of the camels, from the shadows. It was slightly difficult to get my dog to cooperate and sit still, so I held up a stick and he just stared at it, which made him finally sit and not move. I also tried to make the camera angle higher, without including my own shadow in the picture. I couldn't really see what the photos looked like when I was taking them because I was holding my camera up high, but I really liked this one because of the long shadow. Once I chose this photo, I went to photoshop and used the healing tool to smooth out some holes that were in the snow. i decided to do this because I wanted to add more focus to the shadow, rather than the uneven texture in the snow. Finally, I went in the photos app and adjusted some elements of the lighting and contrast to make the shadow stand out more.

I really like how my final project turned out because I like how the shadow shows the silhouette of my dog, but also how it is long and is much bigger than the actual subject (my dog). This element sort of gives the message that although he may not be the biggest and the mightiest, he has definitely got a brave soul and big personality.