The photographer was holidaying with his family when two shadows became a plaything for his young son
Gellért Gombai, his wife and two children spend much of the year at their home in Budapest, Hungary, but most of their summers in Alsóörs. “It’s a small holiday village on Lake Balaton, the largest in central Europe, so it’s often referred to as the Hungarian sea,” Gombai, a freelance photographer, says. “We go to the playground and beach most days, swim, and eat beach food, but even when I’m enjoying my holiday, I’m looking out for interesting moments to capture.”
On this particular day, the family had eaten hotdogs for lunch, before Gombai had taken the kids, Lóci and Janka, to the playground. “Lóci, who was five at the time, was jumping between two shadows – one from a changing room, and the other from a building’s roof,” he says. “I asked him to stay still for a few minutes while I got the shot, and he lay like this on the ground. He’s a big-hearted little clown; I’m so glad he’s my son.” When he showed the children, “Janka immediately asked me to take the same shot of her, which often happens. Lóci said it looked like he was among mountains, or as though a monster was about to eat him.”