weird light

 
The high energy boy was only briefly in this spot when I made the image. It was taken on the covered front porch of his home with the sun behind the house and a nice patch of blue sky in front of boy. Typically the type of soft lighting I like and feel confident in working with.

Thinking back on that moment when looking through the viewfinder I do recall noticing some unusual light patterns invading the scene but I guess dismissed them as unimportant. Anyone familiar with photographing kids knows that when an active little one suddenly becomes stationary you “shoot first and ask questions later“. (Have I sunk to quoting bad cowboy movie dialog?!?)

As I already mentioned, he wasn’t long in this location so I gave no further thought to the lighting there until reviewing the proofs. I decided that the couple of shots I took in this spot would not be included in the proof book as the weird light going on behind the boy was too distracting. They weren’t especially compelling images so it was easy to lose them and move on.

I came across this image again recently and for some reason was drawn more deeply into it, trying to determine the mystery of the weird light. The combination of the boy’s rather introspective downward gaze and unexplained beams of light leading in his direction lend a somewhat eerie feeling that leaves me with more questions than answers.

I sort of like it just because of the questions it suggests.

~Cynthia

 

PS Just now, in scanning the image to share here I believe I solved the mystery of the weird light. My vehicle was parked in front of the home, catching the sun’s rays and bouncing them back in strange ways onto the scene.
Note to self: vehicles make poor reflectors.