Old Point Loma Lighthouse, San Diego, California, 2004 photo

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirteen: Bringing Fresh Visions to Tired Clichés > Old Point Loma Lighthouse, San Diego, California, 2004

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15-APR-2004

Old Point Loma Lighthouse, San Diego, California, 2004

I could have made a standard lighthouse travel cliché, and even framed it within a tree, but I restrained myself from doing so. Instead I went inside of this historic lighthouse and climbed to the top of the spiral staircase leading to the light itself. When I looked down, I saw this marvelous spiral form exploding into my frame like a giant snail. But to move beyond clichés, we must think about meaning, not just form for the sake of form. As I peered into the stairwell, I saw one of my photographic colleagues climbing up to join me. When she was just below me, she asked if she was intruding on my shot. I answered, “No, you just made my picture.” Her hand on the railing symbolizes a human journey that begins in light and ends in the gathering darkness at the top of the stairs, very much as in life itself. By using spot metering off the furthest and brightest part of the picture, I make the darkness rise within the image and thereby express my idea.

Leica Digilux 2
1/50s f/2.4 at 8.2mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		11-Jan-2005 01:43
You describe your feelings in words very well, River King, and they are more than welcome. Thank you for telling me how you see my composition, particularly my wideangle work. It gives me great pleasure to hear this from serious photographers, many of whom have great respect for how the wideangle perspective helps us express ideas. You just gave me an idea --I should put together a future instructional gallery on just that topic -- thanks! You are correct in saying that I do not try to overwhelm with my wideangle perspective. Many photographers use it for the sake of its effect. I prefer to use it as a tool to express meaning, particularly in terms of scale relationships and implying depth. It is also an excellent tool for creating "layered" images that create relationships between subjects in the foreground, middleground and background. This is just such an image. As for that hand, you are right about light areas attracting the eye first. I think large dark areas can do that as well. This hand lurks within a dark area, however and may take a moment to discover. But once you do, everything changes, doesn't it? I also agree that the color is very important here. It unfolds gradually and smoothly, just as the journey up those stairs. The colors here are very subtle but still critical to meaning. This image would not work very well in black and white. You might also be interested in comparing the effect and meaning of this wideangle image looking down into a spiral staircase with another wideangle photo I took looking up at spiral staircase at:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/20828398 In that image, it is the color itself that does much of the expression. Take your time with my galleries -- there are over 400 images in there already. I am leaving on Friday for an almost month long shoot in Laos and Myanmar, and hope to add several new galleries when I return in February, as well as adding new images to all of my existing galleries, so it may take you a number of years to get through most of it, but stick with it. I value your comments very much and will respond to all of them upon my return.

Guest		11-Jan-2005 00:05
Phil, I am reading your galleries as one photo per day. I guess it will take me over a year or so to finish all of your images. One thing I really enjoy your images is the composition, especially those taken by wide angle lens. Like this photo and the one I commented on "Dog bed, Bering Island, Russia," your wide angle composition does not produce those very overwelming wide angle effects, but in a modest way to tell readers some powerful story. These two images gave me something to learn about composition when use wide angle lens. For this image, I did not first notice the hand. I think as a natural visual habbit, my eye paid attention first at the lightest part of this image. Very nice image and definitely can look over and over again. Vera has mentioned about its compostion, geomotry, and lighting. But the color in this image, i think, also make this image so "thoughtful." From buttom's almost white/gray to the top's dark orange, the change of color is modest but smooth, makes the picture's mood to be soft but with deep meaning... I like that kind of feeling... (Sorry I'm not very good of describing my feelings in words...)

Phil Douglis		01-Dec-2004 23:04
I am delighted that you are able to enter this image and feel it as I felt it while making it, Vera. There is definitely a primal tunnel of life itself within this scene. I know you are thriving on its form and rhythm and luminosity, and I hope you will also dwell on its meaning as well.

Guest		01-Dec-2004 18:28
For me, this image first comes as a fascinating visual experience for its form and geometry and lighting, as I've mentioned below. This fascinating experience makes me want to linger and so I spend much time looking at it over and over -- then as time goes by and I reflect on it more, it dawns on me that if I were blind then I would not be able to see and thus experience the visual treats, along with the sensation of vertigo I've mentioned, that I am experiencing now. For me, dear Phil, this is the meaning of this image. Vera. :-)

Phil Douglis		01-Dec-2004 02:06
You are proving yourself to be one of my toughest critics, Vera, and when you say you really like something, it makes me sit up and take notice! I find it fascinating how many visual treats you have isolated within this single image. You are looking at my picture as purely a sensory experience, while I intended it to be a symbolic journey of the human spirit through life itself. I think we can easily reconcile the effect you feel, and the meaning I seek. Expressive photography does not require viewers to all come to the same conclusions as to meaning. In fact, for some, meaning may well be secondary to the sheer visual experience of entering an image and exploring its illusions. Just as you have done so fluidly here. You virtually floated through this picture! I followed every step of your visual journey, Vera. Once again, you offer us a veritable education in another point of view. I have long felt that photographers who use form purely for the sake of form were missing out on what I consider to be the most important gift of photography, the expression of ideas. But you prove to me here that expressive images can also stimulate the imagination by drawing the eye and mind into a purely visual experience that can leave us exhilarated and entranced. Ideas are the stuff of the left brain. Experiences are the domain of the right brain. The two are not mutually exclusive, as this image proves. Thank you, Vera, for championing an alternate channel of photographic expression here -- the realm of sensory illusion and experience.

Guest		26-Nov-2004 10:17
Phil, this is the sort of images that I can look at over and over and over again (as you may have guessed it!) -- the lighting, the geometry, the simplicity, and your composition... they together make a brilliant picture here! What especially mesmerizes me is the visual illusory experience : Her finger looks as if pointing at the bottom of the lighthouse (if viewed in a 3-dimensional manner) , but simultaneously it also look as if pointing at the lower left corner of this image (if viewing this image 2-dimensionally). Then my eyes follow her finger and are drawn to the top of the stairs (3-d), or alternatively I may say the lower left corner of the picture (2-d). Then my eyes slowly spiral down to the bottom of the lighthouse (3-d), or alternatively spiral into the centre of the picture (2-d). I hope you know what I mean. In any case, I have the sensation of vertigo here! Vera.

Phil Douglis		31-Oct-2004 19:39
I rarely set up shots, Maureen. As I said in my explanation, my fellow-shooter Jan was on the way to make her own shots, and i caught her in just the right spot. I am glad she chose to wear that color, too. It was the play of light that made this shot work, of course, and elevated it beyond another one of those lighthouse cliches.

Guest		31-Oct-2004 16:49
Mesmerizing!!!! It's one of those photographs that draws you in with optical illusions. The subtle color of the shirt matches the subtle color of the stairway. The lighting is perfect, growing more and more intense until you get to the bottom of the stairs where it's the strongest. I think if you had set this up, it couldn't have been more perfect, Phil.

Guest		31-Oct-2004 10:01
I love this one

Lara S		08-Jul-2004 02:42
Wow. I love this photo Phil. Wow!!!!!

Phil Douglis		25-Apr-2004 23:44
Good eye, Sean -- the pointing finger is as important as the hand itself, isn't it? Thrusting diagonals, indeed! Phil

Sean McHugh		25-Apr-2004 15:15
This is also one of my favorites. The lighting, shapes, and well-placed arm are all great, but to me what really pushes this image over the edge is also the most subtle-- the outstretched pointer finger. It adds both a casual feeling to their stroll and an element of motion as they are not just standing there and holding on. In addition, it's neat how the human element nicely mimics all of the other thrusting diagonals in this image.

Phil Douglis		25-Apr-2004 06:22
I'm with you on this, Wendy. Of all my San Diego shots, this one is the one I stop and look at the longest. I regard it as almost the exact opposite of the spiral staircase I shot in Austria's Melk Abbey a year ago http://www.pbase.com/image/20828398). In that one, I shot up into a brilliant golden spiral culminating in an orange ball symbolizing the sun -- and life -- itself. In this one, I shot down into a spiral that wends its way from light into a gathering darkness that envelopes the scene. That limp hand made all the difference -- it is indeed quite subtle, and purposefully so. I want it to come as a surprise. It still haunts me when I look at it.

Wendy O		25-Apr-2004 05:48
I think this is my favorite of all the shots you took in San Diego. The hand is so subtle, and it makes this shot special.

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