The shadow tells the story
Shoot for the shadows was our byword when shooting with black and white film. If you did “shoot for the shadows” you’d have detail in your blacks and you could control your whites with your darkroom developing techniques.
But my friend, Torie, taught me a new meaning for the phrase. She is an especially observant person and she noticed the shadow of this man although we were primarily interested in his shoes. (These are the high-heeled ‘pirate’ shoes that many tribesmen wear in Gujarat India. I’ve seem some that were a bit higher than these, but they were worn by a man going to town, not someone carrying a headload of hay.)
I had been framing only those fabulous shoes and since I wasn’t shooting from a worm’s eye view, my photo viewpoint was going nowhere. When Torie cried out, “Look at his shadow!” I immediately widened my viewpoint to catch the shadow and I got my photo. The shadow plus his shoes and clothing tell the whole story of the man and his life. I did crop this post production, as they say.
Noticing shadows can give your photos another dimension and maybe cause you to look for a new and better point of view. We all get in habits and maybe trying to use the shadows when possible can give you some new ideas.