The more abstract your imagery, the more it says, Iris. By using shadows so effectively, and in this case, converting to black and white to stress the darkness, you add a sense of mystery to the image that it would not have in color. I went through a similar process in my rendering of the old Dutch graveyard in Cochin, India, athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/95787361 It becomes a metaphor for life after death, just as this image offers us a metaphor for isolation.
