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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Nine: The Layered Image – accumulating meaning > Confrontation, near Arivaca Junction, Arizona, 2009
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11-APR-2009

Confrontation, near Arivaca Junction, Arizona, 2009

A herd of dairy cows had been grazing as we pulled up. By the time we got out of the car and over to the fence, only one of them remained. It steadfastly stared us down, daring us to get closer. Of course we had to stay we were. A layer of barbed wire stands been us and the cow. Just in front of the fence is a twisted bush, and just behind it stands an Ocotillo, its red blossoms waving in the spring winds. The cow is actually very close to us, but my 24mm wideangle lens makes it smaller, linking it to the vast landscape that sweeps towards the storm clouds on the horizon. I count at least six significant subject layers in this photograph, giving it the illusion of depth, creating scale incongruity, and eventually opening up to a grand vista.

Leica D-Lux 4
1/400s f/4.0 at 5.1mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis25-Apr-2009 19:08
You are right, Alina -- the grazing lands of the West are quite different from those in the East. Everything out here is about space and spaciousness. And when we come to photograph it, spatial relationships become paramount.
Alina25-Apr-2009 14:58
While traveling Arizona I often saw a lonely cow or small herds on the fenced grazing land. The pastures were dried and were meeting the horizon in the distance. In Maryland we have different scenery. Large herds of cows have green and small meadows.
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