one advent of digital photography, mainly as shared online, seems to indicate a love for no-shadows photography. this is also very apparent in the candy-coloured photographs found in modern «New Topographics». yet, obviously,  shadows can be embraced and forget about “expose for the shadows” suggestions. one classic example of embracing the shadows right away is the cinematography in The Godfather, which begat the nickname for Gordon Willis as “the prince of darkness”. (the nice anecdote is that, during the remastering of the film, they could not make them brighter for modern tastes because there is nothing in the shadows.) I have personally started to embrace the shape of shadows in the photos I take, and eventually will bring it into portraiture with purpose, versus accident/cliché. as a nice example, there is the work from Marina Lovato, and others will follow.

links: Marina Lovato on flickr and Instagram.