The beauty of the shadow

This is a work in progress still from a short video I started editing this morning. About ten years ago I shot this footage with my friend Steven, a series of portraits of him under strobe and 16mm projector lights. Since his passing last week I've been going over a lot of the work we made together, and found this almost forgotten footage. I also found an email from Steven where he describes some videos I had sent him. The description says more about Steven, his insight and creativity, than I feel it really says about anything else.

i'm gasping.
they are so beautiful and unsettling at the same moment, my favorite combination. as you know i've always had an affinity for the beauty of the shadow. i can't help but project all sorts of mythological allusions to the dark woods, with mothers protecting scared little girls, arsonists, glowing swans and drowning refugees.