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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Nine: Composition -- putting it together > Monument Valley, Arizona, 2009
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12-NOV-2009

Monument Valley, Arizona, 2009

I structured this image as a diagonal composition, leading the eye into it by placing the base of the road at the lower left hand corner and letting it lead the eye into the dominant butte in the upper right hand corner. A car rolls through the midpoint of the image, defining the function of the road that splits a rich red desert landscape in half. A large bird in flight, and the twin spires of one of Monument Valley’s signature red rock monoliths add additional identity. If you move back from this image and view it from several feet away, these details become subservient to the powerful thrust of the composition itself. (I photographed this same road and landmarks, but in an entirely different way, a few day’s later. ( See http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/119661839 )

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
1/1250s f/7.1 at 175.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis25-Nov-2009 19:39
I knew you would see the bird, Tim. You always do. And it does add an exclamation point to the image as it soars above the scene.
Tim May25-Nov-2009 18:55
And - there's a bird as punctuation!
Phil Douglis24-Nov-2009 02:53
You are not alone, Carol. Several of my fellow photographers called this scene "the road to Oz." It really is all about the road, which rolls, twists, and turns through the desert landscape before vanishing into the giant buttes.
Carol E Sandgren24-Nov-2009 02:03
For a silly reason I am envisioning the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz. All that would be needed would be to have the monument in green, but the lovely foreground surrounding the road reminds me of poppies and lovely flowers. The flattening of this image also may have something to do with this. But whether traveling down the Yellow Brick Road, or this road to the butte, the scene draws me in, attracting me to continue on until the end.
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