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Gallery 05 of 05

Shapes & Shadows

Light divides; shadow completes.

Couples dancing across a sunlit square with long shadows

Dancing ShadowsPorto, PortugalIt had rained the whole day, and when the sun finally came out in the afternoon, so did everyone else. Strangers took each other’s hands and danced across the square, their long shadows dancing beside them. I wish people did this back home.Dancing ShadowsPorto, Portugal

A lone man at a cafe table beneath tall shuttered arched windows

Table for OnePorto, PortugalA man sits alone at a café table beneath tall shuttered windows, light slicing through the slats above him. There is a contemplative heaviness about him, and I wonder what he is going through. I took the picture and left him to his thoughts.Table for OnePorto, Portugal

A carved stone caryatid against leaded glass windows

The Weight She CarriesPorto, PortugalArms raised, she carries the building with a dancer’s calm, her stone softened by the light that falls through a lattice of leaded glass. Porto is full of figures like her, ornament carved into doorways and cornices all through the city, and I love how they lift an ordinary street into something graceful.The Weight She CarriesPorto, Portugal

Two diners silhouetted against a window view of a cathedral skyline

Lunch with a ViewMadrid, SpainTwo diners in silhouette, and beyond the window, the domes and spires of Almudena Cathedral under a sky of scattered clouds. This was the top floor of a department store, a delightful little viewing deck I had not expected to find. Begun in 1883, the cathedral took more than a century to finish.Lunch with a ViewMadrid, Spain

Caryatid porch in raking light above a sprawling city

Maidens over AthensAthens, GreeceRaking light picks out the maidens of the Erechtheion as Athens sprawls to the horizon below. They have held up this porch since the fifth century BC, though the figures here are careful replicas. The originals now rest indoors, safe from the weather.Maidens over AthensAthens, Greece

Fluted marble columns seen from below against a dark sky

From BelowAthens, GreeceLooking straight up, fluted marble columns climb into a dark sky. Stand close enough and scale stops making sense. These stones were raised nearly 2,500 years ago, and they still make a person feel very small.From BelowAthens, Greece

Ionic columns and entablature with a small moon in the sky

Moon over MarbleAthens, GreeceIonic scrolls, a weathered entablature, and a small moon hanging in the corner of the sky. Democracy was born in the shadow of this hill some 2,500 years ago. The marble is cracked and patched now, and I cannot look at it without thinking how fractured that idea feels today, and how much still depends on holding it up.Moon over MarbleAthens, Greece

Three columns framed by a stone opening under olive branches

A Window in StoneAthens, GreeceThree columns framed by a rough stone opening, olive branches reaching in from above. The olive was sacred to Athena, and legend says her very first tree was planted on this hill.A Window in StoneAthens, Greece

Sunburst at the corner of a scaffolded temple with a seated photographer

SunburstAthens, GreeceThe sun breaks around the corner of the Parthenon, scaffolding and all, while a fellow photographer sits on the rocks lining up a shot of their own. Restoration here has gone on for decades. The light, at least, needs no repair.SunburstAthens, Greece

Restaurant window layering diners with a reflected riverside street

Three RealitiesPorto, PortugalOne pane of glass holds three realities at once: the riverside street reflected behind me, a man at his table, and through the far window, life going on across the river. He is having a quiet dinner alone, unaware of me and of the bustling crowds outside.Three RealitiesPorto, Portugal

Pedestrians silhouetted crossing an iron arch bridge

CrossingPorto, PortugalSmall figures cross high above on an iron arch, drawn in pure silhouette against a bright sky. Porto’s Dom Luís I Bridge opened in 1886, designed by an engineer who had once been Gustave Eiffel’s business partner, and the family resemblance shows.CrossingPorto, Portugal

Two figures at an iron gate beneath an arch, a glass pyramid beyond

The GateParis, FranceTwo figures stand at an iron gate beneath a dark arch, the glass pyramid of the Louvre glowing beyond. When I. M. Pei’s pyramid opened in 1989, it scandalized Paris. Now people line up just to photograph it.The GateParis, France

Curving sandstone walls of a slot canyon opening to the sky

Carved by WaterPage, ArizonaSandstone walls curve and fold toward a sliver of sky. To me the shape resembles a face, or perhaps something else; that is up to one’s imagination. Slot canyons like this are carved by flash floods, one storm at a time, each leaving the stone a little smoother than before.Carved by WaterPage, Arizona

Three caryatids in afternoon light and shadow

Half in ShadeAthens, GreeceThree maidens in the afternoon light, each half in sun and half in shade. They have held this pose for some 2,400 years, and the shadows have crossed their faces every single day.Half in ShadeAthens, Greece

Windmills silhouetted with a sunburst between them

StarburstMykonos, GreeceThe sun slips between two windmills and flares into a star. Stripped of color, their spokes look like ink sketches against the bright Aegean sky.StarburstMykonos, Greece

Iron shoes and tea lights on a riverbank memorial

Shoes on the DanubeBudapest, HungarySixty pairs of iron shoes line the riverbank, with candles left beside them. They remember the people who were ordered to take off their shoes here in 1944 and 1945 before being shot into the river. It is the quietest place in the city.Shoes on the DanubeBudapest, Hungary

Looking up at glass towers past a dark abstract sculpture

Glass and SteelLos Angeles, CaliforniaGlass towers rise past the dark sweep of a sculpture, all angles and reflections. Looking up, a city can feel like a canyon of its own, carved by ambition instead of water.Glass and SteelLos Angeles, California

Overhanging leaves above a rocky river shore

Under the LeavesPorto, PortugalLeaves hang overhead like a curtain, and below them a shoreline of rounded stones curves toward a distant town. Black and white strips the scene down to texture: leaf, rock, water, cloud.Under the LeavesPorto, Portugal