A Shadow where no Shadow ought to be

[John Latter]

This is a photo of a chap called John Allister walking westwards along Dover's "New Street" (prior to 1785 it was "Turne-Againe Lane") on Sunday morning, 22nd of March, 2009.

John's shadow ought to be on his other side, but sunlight angling in from between the buildings on the left has been reflected by unseen windows on the right, thereby creating the 'golden wall' effect:

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More info at the photo's webpage.

John Latter / Jorolat

 

[Wyjid]

i like the shot. i can't decide if i want the wall jutting into the picture on the right side gone or not. one side says distracting and one side say im tailing someone creeping around the corner watching them.

 

[John Latter]

i like the shot. i can't decide if i want the wall jutting into the picture on the right side gone or not. one side says distracting and one side say im tailing someone creeping around the corner watching them.

Thanks for replying, Wyjid

My original purpose in taking the photo was to capture as much of the "Metropole" sign on the sidewall above John's head as possible. The reason being I had just uploaded a photo of the Eight Bells public house, which had once been a cinema with a "Metropole Hotel" on the floors above.

The 'writing on the wall', so to speak, is the only externally visible evidence that the Metropole Hotel and Bars ever existed and is located on the hotel's side entrance in New Street.

John Allister wasn't meant to be in the shot at all. Before he arrived I had already decided to include the wall on the right because New Street opens up further on and I wanted to take a claustrophobic photo reflecting the days when it was narrow all along its length.

(As an aside, when I was a child there were many such passages and alleys in Dover and I intend to eventually take photos of all those that remain.)

John came up beside me as I was fiddling with my camera and offered to wait until I had taken the shot. "You go ahead," I said, "I'll be a few moments yet".

Then, as he began walking down the alley, I was reminded of a UK advertising campaign for Strand cigarettes:

This television advertisement depicted a dark, wet, deserted London street scene in which a rain coated character lit a cigarette and puffed reflectively. This was accompanied by an instrumental, "The Lonely Man Theme" and a voice-over declared "You're never alone with a Strand."

The commercial was popular with the public but sales of the brand were poor and it was soon taken off the market. The public associated smoking Strand cigarettes with being lonely and were put off from buying them. [Abridged]

I waited until John had reached the wall because, as the above article goes on to say:

It is regarded as one of the most disastrous tobacco advertising campaigns of all time.

I wanted to capture some of the ambivalence of "I like it, but I don't want it"

John Latter / Jorolat

 

[dcclark]

I guess that, just looking at the photo, I don't see anything surprising about the shadow. It looks like he has a shadow being in from the correct direction, given all of the light that I can see.

 

[John Latter]

I guess that, just looking at the photo, I don't see anything surprising about the shadow. It looks like he has a shadow being in from the correct direction, given all of the light that I can see.

Well, as the person who was there, so to speak, it was vaguely surprising to me at the moment I took the photo because if I had taken two steps backward I would have been standing in brilliant sunshine coming from my left - in which case my shadow would have been on the opposite side of me to that of John's.

It's a personal thing, I guess - knowing that both shadows were being caused by sunlight. The fact that the sunlight angles in between the buildings on the left without touching the sidewall with the sign on is part of why I like the photo.

John Latter / Jorolat

 

[woojiebear]

nice shot - i really like this
i find the buliding on the right foreground a little distracting
either needs to be straightened and/or cropped out a bit
otherwise, very interesting

 

[John Latter]

nice shot - i really like this
i find the buliding on the right foreground a little distracting
either needs to be straightened and/or cropped out a bit
otherwise, very interesting

Thank you for your comments, woojiebear

I've just been 'playing' with the photo in Picasa 3 and it does look better with the right-hand building straightened.

The difficulty is, nothing in Dover of any age has a true right-angle and as luck would have it, the bottom part of the building on the right, although modern, consists of a slightly flared column, narrower at the bottom than at the top.

Straightening the right-hand building makes those on the left tilt over a bit, but it provides a reference that definitely improves the photo. Thank you again for the suggestions!

John Latter

PS I'll forego cropping for the moment - I don't know what I'm doing and can't make decisions at the best of times.