Urban landscapes are full of glass towers. On clear days in the mornings and evenings, they reflect ghostly light on the the buildings around them and the people below. The windows create fuzzy patches of shadow and light almost as if you are looking at sunlight shinning at the bottom of a pool of clear water. The wavy distortions create a wonderful effect. Have a look t the photo below.

The photo above is a good example of that kind of reflected sunlight. It works better in color than in monochrome in my opinion. The strking colors pull the photo together. The empty space provides a kind of balance. I love how the light highlights the woman’s blond hair, while leaving her face obscured in shadow.

 

The photo above is of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. The reflected light makes it mysterious. The Gothic architecture is suddenly hard to distnguish, and the building looks almost out of place. When the photograph is cropped removing the clues of the other buildings, it the image becomes disorienting.

The photo below is of a warehouse building in Tokyo. Walking early one morning it caught my eye because of the light reflected off of a glass tower across from it. From street level, it was a striking image, beautiful in its own way. A few days later, I recognized the same building looking out the window of a train. The light was gone, and so was the beauty. The building was ordinary, if not downright ugly,

Below are some more examples of reflected light in urban landscapes.