The Double

The shadow was the subject before she was. I had been testing the light, a bare strobe with a grid positioned low and to the right, and noticed that the diagonal bands thrown across the wall and the Barcelona daybed created a composition worth occupying. When she sat down and turned toward the light, her shadow profile appeared on the wall behind her, and the image became a conversation between two versions of the same person.

The Barcelona daybed is not accidental. Its geometric cushion grid creates a secondary pattern that interacts with the diagonal light bands. The overall effect is more cinematic than any other image in the series. It belongs to the tradition of film noir lighting and photographs that use architecture and furniture as compositional elements equal to the body.

This image introduces design as a collaborator. It is the image in the series that most clearly connects the Figure Study work to the architectural concerns of the Landscape series.