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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Nine: Composition -- putting it together > Icy Rookery, Paradise Harbor, Antarctica, 2004
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07-JAN-2004

Icy Rookery, Paradise Harbor, Antarctica, 2004

It is very difficult to compose large numbers of penguins into a coherent image. There were at least 40 Gentoos nesting and milling about in this part of their rookery, and I was looking for a way to make it all hang together. I noticed the shape of the iceberg that looms behind them -- it seems to have two heads, one going left, and the other right. I watched the behavior of the two penguins standing directly below. Their heads were down, watching the nests. After all, that’s their job. I hoped they would lift their heads up, and my wish was granted. Not only did they raise their heads – one penguin looks left and the other looks right, creating a rhythmic relationship with the iceberg behind them. All the other penguins in the picture now become context for this pair, as the picture organizes itself around this rhythmic repetition.

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Phil Douglis30-Aug-2012 18:44
I was attracted by that contrast as well, Ken. Thanks for noting its importance to the image.
Guest 30-Aug-2012 00:21
really enjoy the cool-warm contrast here between the ice and foreground.
Phil Douglis28-Apr-2006 19:27
Many of my images could easily fit in multiple galleries in my cyberbook, Niall. I love the incongruities here as well. As you point out, the dry earth contrasts to the frigid ice that looms behind the penguins here. The penguins are small, while the iceberg is is large -- and that is a scale incongruity. The two penguins providing the focal point of the image are incongruous in their own right -- their flipper action expresses an almost human relationship.
type28-Apr-2006 15:43
Perhaps this could go in your incongruity gallery. The dry, warm tones of the earth on which they waddle around is at odds with the frigid blue of the iceberg. Witty capture.
Phil Douglis30-Jan-2006 03:22
Thanks, YOP, for picking up on the loner on the right, and linking it to the upright blob just behind. It is fascinating how just the posture seems to define personality of these animals.
YOP30-Jan-2006 00:25
I really like this one. Those surrounding the central pair look submissive. The one on the right is a loner. Yet he/she stands high, echoing the ice blob behind. That shows a strong, independent personality to me.
Phil Douglis30-Jan-2004 02:25
I like your take on this one, too, Tim. When I looked again at this iceberg, it now seems to resemble a giant bird about to take flight. It is no longer just the two-headed iceberg I saw looming behind the duo of penguins standing before it -- it has become a winged symbol of flight. Amazing how perceptions can be influenced because of the perception of others. The picture still works just as well -- two heads or two wings, the iceberg remains a formidable presence in this photo, energizing the static body language of the pengiuns in the foreground and still creating a rhythmic shape that dominates the image.
Tim May30-Jan-2004 00:46
Yet another comparison to another image in these galleries. There are comparisons I notice with "Birdstorm" (http://www.pbase.com/image/25457842 ) Both have birds in the foreground and large solid things in the background. But in this case the birds are still and, for me, the iceberg feels as if it was alive and ready to take off. You're right, your composition of the double heads does pull the eye to see the comparison of the two "wings" directly behind them and thus leads me to put the flight from the flightless into a multi-ton iceberg.
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