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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Four: The Workplace -- essence of a culture > Quick build, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2010
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30-AUG-2010

Quick build, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2010

This house, under construction during the two-week period while I was visiting this beach community, did not exist when I arrived, and seemed almost finished when I left. The construction workers who built this house worked quickly and constantly to get the job done. I found two of them working on the roof early in the construction phase, and using my long telephoto lens, photographed their efforts from a neighboring street. In mid morning, the scene was backlighted, abstracting the image for me and making it more symbolic than descriptive. I liked the way the light softly illuminates the framework of the building, making it seem to glow. The clouds in the pale sky echo the rounded shape of the tree leaves that seem to be blessing the scene. The utility poles and wires embrace the construction site – nothing gets done without the power they provide. Yet the key to the idea itself -- the speed of construction -- is the body language of one of the workers. One of the men hunches forward as he carries a piece of lumber towards the framework, while his colleague bends over behind him to pick up a tool or materials. There is a sense of urgency in the body language of the man carrying the lumber that makes him the focal point around which the entire image revolves.

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Phil Douglis04-Oct-2010 21:06
Good point, Iris. I am sure that all quick builds do not result in shoddy craft. Nobody will buy a house that shows poor workmanship. What we see in this image as urgency might simply be a matter of doing things in good time, as opposed to casually. This house went up so quickly because the people who were building it apparently knew their stuff and kept to a timely schedule.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)04-Oct-2010 20:05
One can only hope that the saying "haste makes waste" does not apply to this construction. Perhaps there can be a "quick build" without cutting corners....for the future occupants of this house, I can only hope this is the case.
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