State Fair, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2003 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > State Fair, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2003

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11-SEP-2003

State Fair, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2003

Clutching a bag of popcorn and wearing a western style hat, a young fellow enjoys posing for Santa Fe Workshop photographers at New Mexico's State Fair. Using a colorful background of stacked hats, other photographers set up their shots as straight-on environmental portraits. I crouched off to one side, and used a low camera positon to feature his enthusiastic response, and make the towers of hats stacked behind him seem to soar as high as his spirits.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/100s f/4.0 at 15.8mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		01-Feb-2008 21:11
Thanks, Vera, for taking me back to this image. I have not been back here in a while. I forgot about those lights. Your response offers a good lesson -- while Jen was distracted by them, you did not even notice them until you read Jen's comment and my response. Glad they don't bother you. I now have the tools and skills to clone them out -- skills and tools that I did not have back in the fall of 2003. But I still would not clone them out -- they are part of the scene and make the tent what it is. To remove them would hurt the image, in my view, as much as it would help. Thanks for giving me your own view on it.

Phil Douglis		01-Feb-2008 21:04
Thanks, Adam. I just noticed that I did not post a response to comment below that you left under this image back in September, 2006. Today is the first time I have been back this image in a long time, and I just wanted to check to see if I had responded to you by email instead. Or if I missed your comment altogether. Which is a shame -- you have a wonderful idea there. If you are still teaching this class, please feel free to use any of my images. I would love to see how 18-20 year olds put my images into poetry. Sorry for being so tardy to your response. With over 2,000 image on my site now, and something like 15,000 comments, one or two are bound to slip through the cracks. All the best to you in your teaching,

Guest		01-Feb-2008 03:35
This is all American child in the all American dream picture. The stars and stripes in the left hand corner make it even more perfect. Interesting about the lights. I never even noticed them until I read the comments here. So, I guess they didn't distract me. Now that I look at them, they still don't. It is not a staged calendar picture. I now can imagine him in the big tent. V.

Phil Douglis		29-Jul-2006 19:26
Glad you like this photo, Emi. The curves of those hats do enrich the emotional response of the child. The upward curl of all those brims make it seem as if the hats are smiling, too.

Guest		29-Jul-2006 09:04
The curves of 1000 colourful hats background echo the curve of the hat which the little boy was wearing, and thus enrich the joy the little boy had in colour and in shapes. I like this pic. Emi

Phil Douglis		26-Mar-2005 06:04
I cherish your comments, Benchang, because they reinforce so much of what I am feeling and thinking when I make my images of people. No matter what country I may be in, I see similar values being reflected. Yes, this kid is high spirited, straightforward, and probably somewhat fearless as well. A typical young American boy. I love your observation that while cultures are tied to a nation's history, human values are universal, yet they, too, can reflect a cultural influence. Is there not a similar sense of spirit in the young children I photographed in Capetown, South Africa athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/20742462 ? Or what about the straightforward fearlessness of the stoic Chileans I photographed in the world's southern most city athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/25457175 ? You could not find three more diverse cultures than these, yet similar human values energize each of these images. On the other hand the cultural differences between the people in each of these images is profound. Thank you for raising this important point, Benchang. It is why human values are such a valuable part of photographic expression.

Benchang Tang		26-Mar-2005 02:13
Without reading your comments I can tell this is an American boy, and it is made in your country. He is high spirited, straithtfoward, fearless,... You are able to grasp different backgrounds of your photo objects and show them in your works. Human values are shared universally and cultures are rooted in their own nation's history. You are so humane as to reveal the cultures within values,in a positive way, when you take these invaluable pictures.

Phil Douglis		12-Jan-2005 03:02
Thanks, Mikel, for enjoying this picture as much as I enjoyed making it. And thanks for isolating some important human values that appear within it: innocence, surprise, pride, and happiness. I saw enthusiasm, but I gratefully accept your additions to the list.

Guest		11-Jan-2005 22:58
The framing of this picture is great, I like how you abstracted the hats and the vantage point. I think that this photo speacks of innocence and a bit of surprise and proudness. I think that you can see in the childs face happiness for so much attention and proudness too, while on the other hand the whole context and his own face gives an aspect of innocence an almost purity. I think that the light here helps alot, a very difused light warm one that gives little contrast and as such doesen't dramatize a bit the photo, on the other hand, the boy wearing this light coloured hat gives still a bit more of luminosity to his face. His wide open eyes show his surprise and on the other hand I can see that he doesen't feel intimidated since he is just holding his popcorn bag as if he wold not be nervious at all. Didin't he offer you some after? :))) A realy cute image Phil I like this one a lot.

Phil Douglis		09-Jan-2005 02:55
You think right, Audra! That is just what he was saying (or at least thinking.) And yes, he got the hat. Phil

Guest		08-Jan-2005 23:41
I think he just said...........Maaaaaama, can I get it???? So Cute! Audra

Guest		04-Dec-2004 18:08
Great framing and love his childish open expression of joy.

nut		04-Dec-2004 09:36
The most sweetness and pleasure face in my eyes and a group of blue hat have to bow to his spirit.

Phil Douglis		06-Nov-2004 04:51
I love the way your mind skews, Maureen. You see details that everyone else misses. Now that you point out those tilting hats, that's the first thing I see. But when I made this shot I was too busy watching the kid's expressions to notice the "howdy ma'am" hats paying homage to us.

Guest		06-Nov-2004 04:31
What tickles me most every time I look at this photo, is that the hats are all neatly piled up and lined up next to each other - except for the top few in the row closest to the boy. Those hats don't care that they're supposed to remain in order, they're minding their manners by slightly tipping in one of those, "Howdy ma'am" poses.

Phil Douglis		21-Oct-2004 22:51
Glad you really enjoyed this image, Jen. I enjoyed making it, for much the same reasons as you express below. If the pile of hats were not there, if he was not already wearing that hat, and if he was not as enthusiastic as he is, this image would not have worked. I, too, hate those distracting lights, but in order to make that stack of hats and the kid soar, I had to get down low and shoot up, and because of that low vantage points, I got the crappy lights in the picture. So what would you do about them? Clone them out? I don't have that kind of skill, and besides, we just don't take out something as important as the illumination system of a tent, which gives its interior light during both day and night. So I left them in to bug you, Jen. (They bug me, too, but we have to live with less than perfection, right? Even if I had the cloning skill to make it perfect in Photoshop, this image would then be a lie.)

Jennifer Zhou		18-Oct-2004 06:24
This centainly is one of my favorites too! Your vantage point makes this picture more extraordinary! Good abstraction by framing only piles of hats and this cheerful boy, but only the lights on the top of boy's head are little distracted. And incongruity of one hat on boy's head with many many hats at the back, what more incongruity here Phil? You are showing strong human values as well, the little boy's cheerful warm spirit, the colorful hats all indicate how friendly Mexican people are and how rich and colorful their cultures are. You are not only telling a story of the boy but the country and its people!! That's is one thing among many that makes your travel photography so successful! Jen

Phil Douglis		16-Aug-2004 01:10
Keep going, Flings. I am going to shoot in Europe in about a week, so by the time you get down to 300 left to go, I should bring it back up to at very least 348 again. Thanks for being persistent. Phil

Flings		15-Aug-2004 10:15
Very well done. One down 348 to go.

Phil Douglis		28-Mar-2004 20:59
Interesting that you say this, Bruce. I don't know who first uttered that famous quote, but it has always been a phrase to live by. I try never to copy the approach of other photographers. I may shoot the same thing, but not in the same way. In fact, another photographers who was shooting this kid seemed a bit miffed at me for "horning in" on her picture. I assured her that I had no intention of copying her shot, but rather was using the kids reaction to her as the basis for my picture. I don't know if this mollified her or not. After all, she had not hired this child to pose exclusively for her, and given the nature of my own approach, I considered my intentions as honorable.

Guest		28-Mar-2004 15:19
Reminds me of the adage - "Watch what the other photographers are doing, and then do something different." Wish I could attribute that to the proper source!

eT		05-Dec-2003 10:52
well seen! :-) tnx! eT http://www.eTanguero.net/ .

Phil Douglis		02-Nov-2003 19:07
Hi, Ray. Thanks for the comment -- I'm delighted that this photo has become a favorite of yours. As you say, it is a favorite of mine as well --although not the only favorite I have. It is very difficult to choose one image above all others as a personal favorite, but this certainly ranks among my most rewarding moments in photography. There was such pleasure in that child's face, and the piles of colorful hats soaring behind him were a perfect match for his enthusiasm. Thank you for being the first to comment on this photograph.

Ray :)		02-Nov-2003 17:27
I really like this one, its so much fun! Found it via your link to Waynette as your favourite picture. Its my favourite too! ~~~Ray.

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