In praise of shadow or The night and I

Dissociation and challenge are the elements of the night which attract me to Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's essay.

Inspired by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's essay "In praise of shadow" (Lit.) I'm working very much at dusk, in the fog and during the night at the moment. In general I'm very interested in the japanese ZEN philosophy and it's influence onto japanese arts and aesthetics. For me night photography is a very special challenge in composition. The trick here is to percept the strangeness of this fascinating atmosphere, but not to be caught by it. A well-dosed dissociation towards it is the key to clear picture compositions. This strangeness can confuse at complex compositions. Hasty and unreflected working methods won't result in convincing images. Often (but not always) it's necessary to wait for a longer time and come back to the motive over and over again until you reach the needed inner calmness to visualize the image. The reason for taking the photo shouldn't be the attractive strangeness, it should always be the reflected conditions.

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