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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Two: Travel Incongruities > Family portrait, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2009
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19-NOV-2009

Family portrait, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2009

I enjoy photographing other photographers at work. While on a shoot in Scottsdale with a tutorial student, we watched a commercial photographer shooting a family portrait on the picturesque lawn of the city’s civic center. This is a large family – this couple appears to have six children. Between shots, as the father turns to adjust an item of family clothing behind him, he inadvertently seems to place his elbow over the head of the family’s youngest member seated on his lap. Although the elbow simply caresses the oblivious infant’s head, in the context of this photograph it offers an incongruous counterpoint to what otherwise would be a routine event.

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Phil Douglis06-May-2018 23:28
Your comment is fascinating, Merri. You are thinking about the way people dress in this family, while I see a little baby being relegated to an inadvertent momentary arm-rest. I am always drawn to incongruous details because of who I am (or have become) -- I was once told by a film producer that I have an "acute sense of the ridiculous" and that has obviously affected by style and vision as a photographer and as a teacher. You tell us that you grew up under a somewhat restrictive structure and that still affects how you see things. All of us will naturally project who and what we are, at least to some degree, into how we respond to photographic opportunities and how we read and interpret image of others.
Merri 06-May-2018 00:03
Baby as headrest! I wouldn't have seen this one if not pointed out. For me, I thought it was rather incongruous that the girls and their mother were dressed _far_ more formally than the father and his two older sons (not sure of the gender of the baby). My own background provides some biased context here. I grew up in a patriarchal, christian religion where far more was expected of females than males. Furthermore, I was a tomboy and resented being made to dress up. So there's just a wee bit of projection for me in this photograph.
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