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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Ninety: 101 ways to interpret Bolivia > Multi-tasking, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014
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07-MAY-2014

Multi-tasking, Sucre, Bolivia, 2014

I was photographing a continual stream of shoppers moving between floors in Sucre’s central market eye – a parade of vivid colors in motion. When I viewed this particular image on my computer screen, I saw for the first time that the woman in the foreground is not only shopping – she is simultaneously nursing a baby. Meanwhile, the baby itself is lost amidst the lavishly colored bundling. I add context to the scene by including two additional shoppers moving up the steps behind her. To Bolivian eyes, the scene would appear routine. Bolivians are conditioned to seeing such colors, and nursing babies is common in public places. Because public nursing is not as common a practice in the US, my own interpretation of this multi-tasking subject is based on the incongruity of the scene.

FujiFilm X-M1
1/140s f/4.5 at 28.2mm iso800 full exif

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Phil Douglis20-Jul-2014 23:55
Thanks, Iris, for calling attention to the context surrounding the nursing mother. Like you, I have no idea of the relationship between the two women climbing the steps as the mother descends. And I also wonder who they are, climbing hand in hand towards the next landing. The lettering on the wall is part of the directional signage for a dental office. A sign for a medical office is just outside of right hand edge of my frame. I can only guess the people climbing the steps may be heading for such services.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)20-Jul-2014 17:23
While the word "atencion" at the top of the stairs draws my attention, in the first place, to the brightly adorned nursing mother, it also makes me curious about the two women, hands entwined, going up the stairs. Is it a mother and daughter? A caregiver and elderly person? Their relationship is suggested, while the other leaves little to the imagination. I love how this picture piques the imagination.
Phil Douglis13-Jul-2014 00:47
Your comment about the National Geographic is very flattering, Steve. We are conditioned to seeing magnificent color images, rich in human values, and usually set in rather exotic places, appear in that publication. I admire those who make pictures for the National Geographic Magazine, and I have worked with some of their photo editors over the years in my workshops, so I know what they are seeking in their images. But we must realize that the men and women who shoot for this magazine work on a single story over many months, and shoot tens of thousands of images to get the few that eventually will see print. It is a difficult and sometimes dangerous job, and those who do it have earned their spurs.
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