Ephemeral shadows in Zurich Oerlikon, Switzerland
Early spring is a wonderful time to photograph man-made beauty in cities. The sun is low and creates long shadows, lights and reflections and the trees are still bare and project delicate shadows onto facades or other surfaces. Many of these lights and shadows are fleeting beauties and only observed during a few days when the sun peeks through street canyons for a few minutes.
As mentioned in an earlier post, I am particularly fond of light and shadow compositions and the projections of trees attract me particularly. The shadows are diffuse or sharp and small or large depending on the location of the sun and the tree with respect to the facade. Buildings may look completely transformed and beautifully painted with a short-lived work of art. Often, it makes me wish to paint the shadows onto the walls.
The tree shadows shown above could only be observed in early spring or fall. The giant facade served as a screen for the shadow play of Black Locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia). It was a huge building and I had to stitch several photographs together to capture these shadows. The building has been torn down now and the trees are gone as well (an additional level of ephemerality).
The photograph is part of a new gallery that I have just added to Florian's photos. The tree shadows are a spin-off from the Light and shadow gallery, but I was hesitant whether to count them as natural or man-made beauties. I decided for the latter, because all tree shadows have been captured in urban environments and the shadows are projected onto man-made structures.
I hope you enjoy and I wish you a nice weekend!
Florian.