Sunday, February 25, 2007

The Shadow


Nick Blue runs quickly from a mob of bullies late Friday afternoon. His quick legs carry him far from his predators as he runs along the graffiti tagged concrete walls. He doesn’t know that his chasers have now dropped off, but what scared them were not Nick’s quick legs. The lowering sun has cast a sinister shadow behind him. Four times as large as Blue, the shadow’s pointy ears and teeth relate to Nick’s scared reaction and hidden feelings deep inside himself. The bottle and cigarette his shadow carries show the taunting he undergoes daily, and the struggle to refuse every time.

This shadow is what scares the bullies away, this alter character inside Blue that wants to come out, but is kept at bay by his running away. The grayscale coloration also enhances the aura of the dark and light battling against each other amidst the grays of life. But the lurking shadow is the center and focal point, not Nick. Its sheer size, devilish look and contrasting pure ebony color blares out of the photo. At the same time, Nick is feeling this shadow lurking over him, urging him to turn around and give in, for he is a force to be reckoned with.

Even in the brightness of day, the darkness still abides in the shadows waiting for night to fall. Nick is never free of the burden and must carry his shadow with him till he finds a way to leave it on someone else, someone without a shadow that will take it off his back.

3 comments:

jaki.my said...

That was really, really interesting. If Nick Blue’s character existed in a book, it would most likely be a children’s book, but even so I would read it. Connecting that picture of the cat-thing above the boy in the picture the way you did was pretty amazing. It must have taken a good imagination. I simply thought it was some sort of humongous, alcoholic cat that was terrorizing people. The concept of the Nick’s shadow being able to portray how he felt was an interesting one but not as much as the fact that it could overtake his own person.

nancybui said...

Your picture captured my eyes immediately. I was looking at it for a while then I finally got what it was. I perceived this picture as a little girl who is innocent getting captured by evil. I liked the caption you wrote for this particular picture. It explains the picture very well. You have a really awesome imagination. I can’t tell if that big black thing is a shadow or something put in by the computer. It looks like this little girl is also in a bad environment with all that grafitti on the wall behind her. Wherever you found this picture is really amazing.

JennyChavez said...

The title you have chosen is great it really sums up the image. This image is really cool because the viewer can add their thoughts to what the “Shadow” is or what the meaning of it is. I like how you talk about what you see and how the shadow is not just that but a figure that has characteristics like teeth. You go as far to tell even what it is holding in it’s hands, that is great observation. The reason that I enjoy this picture so much is because it makes me think about the different possibilities this image can hold.