Fly fisherman call the last hour of light in the day ‘magic hour’. In the movie (or photography) world it’s called ‘golden hour’. Things happen then that don’t happen any other time. Light does things that seem to defy the laws of physics, mayflies hatch, trout start feeding and even in your own kitchen, magic hour light makes mundane utensils beautiful and mysterious.

The key to understanding the mysterious quality is this: it’s not the light – it’s the shadows. The light in an office park in Denver is the same as the light in Barcelona, but the shadows are very different.

At very shallow angles – like sunlight late in the day or early – light is modified by innumerable factors: humidity, a tree 100 yards away, a fence across the street, bounced ‘fill’ from a roughly textured wall or the fender of a car, the orientation of buildings, far too many possibilities to list. Some create shadows, some create complex overlapping shadow and light, some throw shadows in the opposite direction of the primary light source, some can throw color into deep shadow, some even seem to bend light. And just when you see it, it’s gone.

I decided to figure out how to make it – in my studio. That’s where these pictures come from. I spent four years studying and testing different lighting instruments, mirrors, learning about the physics of light itself, building equipment and trying out dozens of different screens to project the shadows on so I could photograph them, then making picture after picture, variation after variation, until I could control it.

There is not a single object in these pictures, only projected shadows: Sciographs.

To make a long story short, I figured out how God does it. I learned how to create multiple shadow focal planes, how to make solid shadow partially (or completely) transparent, how to make an extremely sharply focused shadow 30 feet away from the object projecting it and how to make light and shadow bend in the space of 6 feet. In all modesty, I don’t think there is anyone alive who knows more about the construction of shadows than I do.

I have tried explaining the methodology but it’s absurdly complicated and I get lost in endless rabbit holes when I attempt it. The short answer is it’s part steampunk, part science and part art.

Thanks for looking.