good morning. let's start the day with a stretch. the curious shape is due to the curvature of the rock which the shadow is cast upon
yesterday we were busy with spring cleaning so today's morning project is to put a bunch of stuff up for sale on both local and national websites. there's a beautiful hand embroidered tablecloth, some silk scarfs, a cotton candy machine, some fancy shoes, a rabbit fur coat, a watercolor, a leather handbag, a vintage ostrich skin handbag, a set of 6 hand blown liqueur glasses that i bought years ago on a cycle trip around gotland in sweden. it took a lot of care to pack those in my panniers and get them home whole.
various brass and copper items
some ceramic plates, a collection of bottles
and an old brass abanico mirror with a long history. everything has to be photographed, accurately described and priced
i am pricing the mirror at NOK 750, that's USD 90. if you want to buy the harbor view from our garden you'll have to add some zeros. notice the footbridge. after i'm done photographing all this stuff i'm going out shadow hunting, then i will cross that footbridge, it's fun making shadows from things at hand but i really prefer to go for walks with my lumix looking for intriguing naturally formed ones. that's what i like most about shadow hunting and the town of stavern always has some nice surprises.
i don't know what other people see but i suspect that much of what i focus on is overlooked by the vast majority- regardless of how blatantly obvious images may appear to me. once you start to see them you see them everywhere.
fanciful images are all over the streets.
this one looks like a cartoon character out walking his dog.
houses and shops in the center of the small town are very close to the road so the shadows are plastered all over them as well
here's a close-up of the window. no wonder norway is famous for it's trolls
this is not some clown dangling from a pole actually it is simply somebody patriotically flying our country's flag
during spring even some cars have begun to sprout.
now i'm approaching the dock where the prawn trawlers unload
the prawns are cooked on the boat in seawater and delivered for sale direct to the customers and they sell out every time
here's a couple of empty baskets
going towards the inner harbor we pass these trees whose shadows lead a chimerical mind to all sorts of wild interpretations. but in another month the leaves will have robbed us of these mystical delights.
i am always on the lookout for patterns, in particular distortions of what would normally be expected. like here with this bench
and here on the footbridge we saw in the mirror earlier
the cross pieces on the deck are designed to prevent slipping but i love how they radically change the shadow line pattern- strangely, it becomes perpendicular to the expected direction
it's getting late and the sun is low as i pass by some open boats
by now i hope you all are enchanted by the shadows of stavern but just in case i will leave you with irrefutable proof of their magic
the guy on the right is me. if you look closely you can see i am standing on dry land still in disbelief that a shadow can walk on water. but they kept coming and going
this guy is something else- look at his head
and now for a good night kiss