A Shadow of Himself

This is probably the best picture I’ve ever taken. Sure, my critical eye can find some technical problems (I goofed on the exposure, which introduced some noise and the subsequent noise reduction in Lightroom has eaten away at some detail), but in my years in this game I’ve not caught many moments. This one, to me, is pure discovery.

This image is our 17-month-old son, Max, seeing a full-sized shadow of himself  for the first time. The moment was fleeting … He walked by, noticed his shadow mimicking his movement, then came back to reach out and touch his dark, life-size playmate. And that was it. He toddled off after that, ready for his bath and bedtime. On a personal level, I love this image because he’s my son, but even more because it captures the things I love about him: his curiosity and sense of adventure, the way he gets a big ol’ Buddha belly after he eats, the way his pants never fit and wind up falling down, and his obsession with that Gumby toy.

It still amazes me how images like this come about. We had just had our hardwood floors installed, and we removed the bookshelf that ran the length of our dining room wall. I also got home from my office about 20 minutes earlier than normal, so this image lined up perfectly. Happy circumstances all around. It makes me wonder how many moments we miss and reinforces why we, as photographers, do what we do.