Here in the West we often favor brilliant colors, hyperrealism, and a superabundance of light. Dazzle! Clarity! Vision!
But in the East, in Japan, there are also alternate aesthetic values. This quote from the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki presents a traditional Japanese point of view:
” Find beauty not only in the thing itself, but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.”
If you look for it, you begin to find it:
Touch2Touch 
Most definitely – there is beauty in the shadows too!
LikeLike
It takes me longer to see, though.
Maybe with practice!
LikeLike
That’s a beautiful illustration to your point. There are so many ways of seeing things. It’s the patterns we look for, I’m told; it’s how we make sense of our world. We don’t always see the same thing, though. My brother, for instance, doesn’t look at the shape of clouds but at the spaces in between. He sees a different sky than I do.
LikeLike
I have this vague idea that people who see primarily negative space are using the “artist’s brain.” But you definitely have an artist’s brain, so maybe seeing negative or positive space is less significant than I’d thought.
LikeLike
The Shadows are more important than we may think……..as we reference Plato‘s “Allegory of the Cave” from The Republic, Book VII. Never discount the magic that lives in the shadow, it could perhaps be reality.
LikeLike
I’m tempted to put quotation marks around your comment and post it as being by that well known author of aphorisms, The Tin Man. Especially the second sentence, so quotable!
LikeLike
You are so very kind. Please quote me whenever you want. You have made me smile with your kindness………..thank you.
LikeLike
Have to figure out a post and photo to accompany what you said about magic in the shadows.
🙂
LikeLike
Beyond the shadow tracing art I do with my kids, I rarely give more thought to lingering shadows. You have opened my eyes and reminded me to look around and pay more attention to these fading treasures.
LikeLike
It will add another dimension, I think.
I’m strongly influenced by all things Japanese, and this is one example.
LikeLike
Another, beautiful post! I had never paid much attention to shadows until I got the camera. I look at shadows differently now. A friend in the photo group took a picture of a simple guard rail, and the way the shadows fell, it turned out awesome!
LikeLike
In a way it’s the same point we’ve been discussing from the post on Boundless Joy, that people/things/photos can express more than the same old same old. Shadows are a new and different expression, the alter ego of the light!
LikeLike
A beautiful photo Judith, your words reminding me there are no shadows in the dark. They come only with light.
LikeLike
A truth I need constantly to be reminded of, Patti. Thank you!
LikeLike
The shadows in your lovely photo tell me its a sunny day 🙂
LikeLike
Sun and shadow, always together!
LikeLike