A Tree, The Grass, A Sidewalk, and A Shifting Shadow

 

When I took the first picture, the sun was behind the clouds.

 

Literally three seconds afterwards the sun had come out. So I took a second picture.

The sun is still out as I begin to write this. What I can see of the tree on the left is almost completely in shadow. Only one branch, the lowest one on the opposite side of the tree, is getting any direct sunlight. Its shadow cast on the ground is taller than the tree itself indicating that it is late in the afternoon. Close to the tree’s base, there are patches of yellow-green grass of various sizes that are lit by the light coming through the tree branch. These patches have hard edges. They are clearly defined. The few sunlit grass patches within the part of the shadow further from the trees base and closer to the walkway are smaller and have fuzzy edges. The light seems to be a very pale amber color. The parts of the grass in the sun are yellow-green while the shadowed grass is a dark emerald. I feel content, peaceful, and slightly sleepy. There is no wind. Everything is still.

The right side of the tree trunk seems to have some green light on it. It seems as if the sunlight is reflecting off the green grass and onto the trunk. It could just be a light dusting of moss on that part of the trunk, but I can’t be sure from this distance. I perceive that green coloration as light.

The tree’s shadow is gone. The sun has gone behind a cloud. That left tree now lacks not only its shadow, but suddenly the tree itself lacks the more distinct form it had when the sun was out. I didn’t realize how much the sun was actually somewhat hitting the tree, giving it a more prominent form, until I saw the tree without any direct sunlight hitting it. This proves that the smallest hints of light, even lights that we don’t necessarily perceive are having an affect on how we view things.

The sun came back out and the tree’s shadow has grown and moved since the last time the sun was unhindered by the clouds. It is now covering a part of the brick sidewalk. The parts of the brick sidewalk further away from me that are completely exposed to the sunlight actually look like variations of grays and near-white, while the bricks closer to me, both in the tree’s shadow and exposed to the sun, are clearly maroon, dark gray, and grayish purple. These colors exist both in the shadow and in the sunlight bricks; those in the sun just have a higher intensity of coloration due to the greater intensity of light.

The clouds I see are lit slightly from the left but mostly from above, which I find perplexing since the sun is not located above them but indeed to their right of them (my left looking at the cloud). The edges of the clouds glow with intense, blinding white light, while the majority of each cloud is in shadow, exhibiting a grayish, lightblue color that is actually pretty ominous.

 

The tree’s shadow has shifted greatly in only 15 minutes! Would never have expected the sun’s angle to have changed that much in that short of time.