Robert’s shadow falls across a weathered gravestone as he snaps the photo, creating an uncanny effect of the living and dead briefly overlapping. The photograph presents a visual paradox: a shadow frozen on a memorial stone seems to make permanent something that is insubstantial and ephemeral. The shadow also creates the effect of negative space, as if a gateway has been cut away from the stone offering passage through to another realm.

Photographs, like gravestones, give us lasting records of our relatives and friends. This strange self-portrait does the opposite. It offers mystery and shadow in place of recognition and familiarity. The shadow announces the photographer’s presence, but he himself remains unseen.