Lifting The Shadow’s Veil Through Jeffrey Conley’s Personal Experience
“Over these last several years, even in the darkest days of the pandemic, my time in nature has been a constant source of solace and wonder. My days out photographing and exploring usually start very early, in the hours prior to sunrise, when the birds are still sleeping and the quality of quiet is extraordinary. I think of this time of day as “the shadow’s veil”, when the first delicate veil of light slowly becomes evident and the depth of earth’s shadow gradually lightens in the slow progression of night to day.
When observing the transitioning day, I find there is a therapeutic element to the patterns and surprises. For myself, this awareness leads to an insightful perspective on life’s usual challenges. A sense of humility emerges in consideration of the enormous scale, complexity, and sheer power of nature; our problems don’t register in significance.
This book is a collection of observations about the unfolding of days. These photographs were made either in the hours before sunrise or very early in the day when the light is new, shadows are long, and hope is eternal.”
Jeffrey Conley is a fine art landscape photographer well known for his meticulously crafted monochromatic prints utilising traditional darkroom processes of gelatin silver and hand coated palladium. They are considered among the most permanent photographic printmaking processes due to the profound stability of the platinum group of noble metals of which the image is constituted. Conley’s work has been internationally exhibited and is included in museum collections worldwide.
Through his photography, Conley strives for a balanced simplicity that evokes a sense of the wonder and reverence of the natural world. Scale and palette vary, from small, intimate and subtle, to large, grand and dramatic. In all, he seeks to capture a meditative spirit that is unique in his approach to photographing the landscape. In the end, he painstakingly strives to create beautifully luminous individually crafted prints.
So many people can relate to the great outdoors providing a source of therapy and escapism. Conley’s outlook on a quiet time of day is both relaxing and cryptic - it’s the cryptic I want to focus on here. Being alone in the world, especially in a big landscape shot, is a consistent theme in Conley’s photography, even if it is involuntary. There is certainly beauty to be had in being alone and experiencing the world early before anyone else does but surely that comes with an element of danger too? If it turns out that you aren’t really on your own, nobody is around to help you. You’re at the mercy of the world when you’re of the delusion that you’re taking control of your own destiny by going out early when nobody is around. This is a dangerous philosophy to have and it could lead to disaster.
