What is umbragraphy you might ask? Well it is a good question. The word has floated for a long time, Thomson Woodman used it as a name for a piece of work, most likely a heliograph, an invention of Joseph Nicephore NIEPCE
Not only the first permanent photo, the heliogram was also used to reveal all the shadows over a very long exposure. How ever my issue with these names and this particular loose term is that it very much routed in the idea of Photography. Drawing with light in reality is what we are doing, but if we are only drawing with the light then what defines a piece, how much light we use or where the light ends? In my opinion if we were truely drawing with light we would have very bland white photos, the truth is, as much as we play with light we are really in the business of shadow making. Using light to cut out shapes with darkness. Without shade we have no shape, without shadows cast we have no contrast. With darkness the real test lies.How do you approach the challenge?
I approach this as a stylistic method and a method of interpretation.
