I flew to and from Salt Lake City within the last few weeks. I got a window seat to take photographs and found an infinitely variable, ethereal subject, clouds. They are the nice puffy ones that dot the sky and create beautiful shadows down below. The space between them allowed me to see and photograph the clouds and their shadows.
I mainly used my infrared camera, which gave even more penetrating views of the clouds and their shadows. I took over 300 photographs during the flights, mostly cloud shadows. But I also captured natural and man-made shapes, forms, textures, and the abstract, fractal-like world they created. At the end of this post, you will see a small collection of these photographs.

Shadows can be powerful components of photographs; they evoke different feelings and convey different meanings. Philosophers from Plato onward, perhaps even from earlier times, have used shadows as metaphors and written about them.
They are fascinating. I am planning to get and read, Seeing Dark Things by Sorensen. The more I thought about the cloud shadows, the more special they became.
Cloud shadows are unlike any other shadow we routinely see. Photography is as much about the shadows as about the light reflecting off surfaces. Yes, sometimes the shadows may be so diffuse, so soft we may think there is no shadow. Make no mistake about it; if light strikes an object, it must cast a shadow, no matter how soft or diffuse.
What distinguishes the cloud shadows from the shadows of most objects we see around us (including our own shadow, of course) is their continual change and eventual disappearance. I do not mean the disappearance of the shadow only, but also, and more noteworthy, the disappearance of the object that casts the shadow along with the shadow.
Clouds have purely random patterns, sizes, shapes, and densities. Therefore, to begin with, the shadows they cast have random shapes as well. The surface upon which the shadow falls, the earth beneath, also has random shapes, terrains, textures, and reflectivities. The intersection of these gives birth to infinitely variable shadow shapes.
The clouds also constantly change. They move over terrain, grow, shrink, get thinner, and eventually disappear. It is this continual flux that makes the cloud shadows ethereal and unique. Over time, everything changes and eventually disappears, shadow and all. But we rarely get a glimpse of this phenomenon as it routinely occurs in the cloud shadows, often without anyone noticing and perceiving their noteworthy qualities.
They give me a tremendous feeling of seeing something magical, something fleeting, something joyous, something to celebrate.
Next time you see a cloud passing over, try to be aware of its shadow and fleeting nature. I hope you will find it at least fun, if not outright awesome.
Cloud Shadows
These were the start of the series of photographs that eventually became the Infrared Earthscapes collection and got published in LensWork magazine.
Jan
Aerial shots taken with infrared produce myriads of rich tonalities that, to me anyway, are impossible to reproduce with color.These are incredibly beautiful.
Shadows, like mirrored images, are magical. Reflections of ourselves? Or a different reality? Someday read “The Tale of Peter Schlemiel”, a nineteenth century German story in which the main character sells his shadow for gain, and wonder.
Mary
This is funny. I do the same thing when I am on a plane. Not only are the clouds beautiful, what’s below can be amazing.
Thanks for sharing your shots,
Mary
Ekin
Mary, you should show those images, competition or not.
Cemal