When I look through photo folders, I am constantly amazed at the motifs. It's weird to see what's going on, almost like a pattern without me being aware of it. In any case, it is only when I go through the folders from the last 10 years that I find quite an amount of pictures of my own shadow. Sometimes, especially when traveling, photos are taken when it is sunny and the shade is not always avoidable. Sometimes I have been conscious of just tipping the camera downwards when I see my own clear shadow. Here is a small selection, which I found works best in black and white as the shadow becomes the main focus.
The first photo above was taken in march this year. I am on a walking tour with my sleeping 5 month old granddaughter in our hometown Kristiansand.
This time my shadow makes me look very long legged! Well, my shadow exaggerates. I am not at all that tall or long legged....The photo was taken mid day making my shadow look very clear and defined. The place is the Dhammayangui Phato (temple) in Bagan, Myanmar. This place is among the most important archeological and religious sites in South-East Asia. Bagan has around 2000 temples, pagodas and stupas spread out on the plains of central Myanmar. Bagan, which was the capital of the first kingdom,used to have more than 6000 temples, that were built from 10th to 14th century AD.
This time I am hiding in a car and I don't really know which one of the shadows belongs to me! I was together with several other people and a driver taking us on a night safari in the Krüger park, South-Africa. Because the sun was low we couldn't escape our own shadow when we were photographing the landscape, looking for wildlife. This national park is maybe one of the most wellknown wildlife parks on the African continent and certainly is a great destination for watching wildlife.
I am standing somewhere near the top of the mountain Le Morne Brabant on the island of Mauritius. I did a hike with a local guide and a group of aroun 40 others. Near the top, the mountain was steep and rocky. We had to walk slowly and at some areas we had to climb and hold on to rocks with both hands. That caused queues. When I took this photo I was waiting in a queue for maybe ten minutes. This mountain is on the UNESCO World Heritage because of it's historical significanse. The hike took us along the path used by slaves who had run away, hiding in caves on the mountain, Slavery was abolished in 1835, but they didn't know. When they saw soldiers approaching, they thought they were going to be arrested. They went up to the top and then threw themselves off the mountain and straight into death. Walking in their footsteps, I couldn't help thinking about how it must have been for them.
In Valle de la Luna, me and my shadow are in good company. The Moon Valley is located in the
Atacama desert, Chile. This place offers some of the most weird landcape I have ever seen. The Moon Valley got this name because of it's lunar looking landforms: canyons, rockformations and sand dunes formed by erosion. The photo was taken from the top of the sunset point where a lot of people had come to sit and watch the sunset. This was truely an amazing experience.
As you might have guessed, I am in a very hot place! Dressed in a wide, airy dress, that reaches my ankles and with a large sun hat to protect me from the sun. I borrowed a bicycle from my hotel so that I could cycle all the way to Mandalay Hill in the city of Mandalay, Myanmar. I chose not to walk since it was hot and the distance was 5 -6 kilometers. Because of the heat, I made a stop here at Mandalay Palace and Fort that is lying within the 26 feet high walls and surrounded by a moat. To get to the temple on top of Mandalay Hill, I then had to climb 1729 stairs. Absolutely a day when I did more exercising than I was doing sightseeing.
Three photographers taking photos of Dune 45 in Sossusvlei, Namibia. We all got there before sunrise, because we wanted to climb this gigantic dune to watch the sunrise from the top. When I returned from the top, I wanted to take photos of the dune with people walking on the ridge. But that was not possible from this side, because the sun was in my back. I am the one sitting on my knees. This photo doesn't show the entire dune. It rises more than 150 meters above the ground. When standing at the foot of it, it does look like a giant.
Again, the sun is in my back at the foot of Dune 45. Namibia has some of the highest sand dunes in the world. The desert is one of the oldest and hotest on earth. Sossusvlei is a huge clay pan enclosed by all these giant sand dunes. This dune har got the name Dune 45 because it's located 45 kilometers from the entrance. An absolut highlight on my trip to Namibia.
Here my shadow and I are playing around with my travel companion in Hanga Roa, Easter Island (Chile). This day was the day of arrival to this remote island in the Pacific Ocean so far from mainland Chile. Hanga Roa is the capital and the only town on the island. Our hotel was located by the sea south of town. There are no sandy beaches here. The coast is rocky and the waves hit the rocks in a way that doesn't make swimming safe. Instead we spent the afternooen watching the sun set.
We are three people standing at the entrance of the Sesriem Canyon in Namibia. It's late in the afternoon. The guide is telling us about this canyon before we enter. That's when I noticed our shadows on the oposite wall. This canyon is located close to the main gate and point of access to the Namib-Naukluft park.
In December 2019 i spent some time in Malalga, Spain together with my sister. We are standing on the main plaza looking at the photos on the phone, when I noticed our shadows. We had walked the streets to soak upthe atmosphere. It would soon be Christmas and the streets were decorated with lights and the Christmas market was open. This was also my last trip abroad before Covid-19 and lockdown.
In Kolmanskop ghosttown I got up early to be at the entrance as soon as they opened. There were noe cars. No busses. During those early hours, I only met another person. Most of the abandoned houses were filled with desert sand. Kolmanskop was once a rich diamant town. But when richer finds were discovered further south the inhabitants left. The desert then took over. The last person to leave town was in 1956. It's definitive a place with a ghostly atmosphere, especially when all alone an early morning.
I don't know what you think, but I do think it was fun to discover and remember all these times when I focused on my shadow.
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Latest photo shoot, check out :
MONOMAD - Calm water (2 photos)
U.J
Kristiansand, Norway
All the photoes are mine, Ulla Jensen (flickr, Instagram and facebook)
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