The Citadel of Chan Chan, located in the deserts of Coastal Peru, was the ancient capital of the 13th Century Chimu Empire and the largest adobe city on earth. This picture of two of Chan Chan’s ancient honey-combed walls communicates because of contrasting lighting direction. The wall in the foreground is illuminated from the side to stress its texture and give it a dimensional effect. The wall in the background, however, receives frontal light, which flattens its texture, and makes the subject lighter as well. Because of its side lighting, the recessed areas of the wall in the foreground are heavily shadowed and give it a sense of depth. On the other hand, the recessed areas of the wall in the background show almost no shadows within them. Whenever I shoot subjects that have surfaces facing in different directions, I can usually expect such contrasting effects as in this picture. I always try to be conscious of where the light is coming from. I prefer to use side lighting for dimensional effect and backlighting for abstraction. Frontal and overhead lighting is usually boring, flat, and literal, unless used for contrast and context as in this shot. That’s why I generally try to shoot early or late in the day and avoid the flatness of overhead mid-day light. The flattening effect of frontal light is another reason why I prefer to use natural lighting instead of flash in my photography, and I’ve always advised my students to do likewise.