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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fourteen: Expressing the meaning of buildings and structures > Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, 2004
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15-JUN-2004

Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, 2004

Built in 1996, Shanghai's vast museum houses one of the greatest collections of ancient Chinese art in the world, some pieces dating back to 600 BC. At its center is an enormous atrium, with open staircases allowing visitors to flow easily from floor to floor and gallery to gallery. I wanted to emphasize the handsome design, modernity and convenience of the structure as well as its huge size and scale. I used a relatively slow shutter speed, less than 1/15th of a second, allowing me to shoot indoors at ISO 100, with light coming largely from an overhead skylight. The three moving figures moving down the top staircase are blurred, which add a sense of movement and flow to the image, while the other people in the picture are static. I particularly liked the silhouetted figure framed in the entrance to the gallery at the very top of the picture. He stands poised for an adventure in ancient art like none other in the world.

Leica Digilux 2
1/13s f/2.0 at 10.4mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis03-Feb-2006 22:08
Thanks, Antonio, for your comment. I always shoot both vertical and horizontal formats. I chose the horizontal here to stress the flow and movement of the people as well as the scale of the building itself. The vertical version constrained both the stairways and the people. It made the building look taller, but not as vast, and thus crippled its meaning for me.
Guest 03-Feb-2006 21:07
this is excellent for your expert trick about shutter speed gaining in meaning of course. Actually, for this gallery I could suppose a better vertical format for this shot even though I do not know the real place and can not really judge about this aspect.
Phil Douglis14-May-2005 23:52
This picture is about perfect symmetry, Anna -- until those three people break that symmetry and bring the picture to life. Thanks for the comment.
Anna Pagnacco14-May-2005 23:12
Perfect simmetry! People adds to the image.....Anna
Phil Douglis29-Dec-2004 22:07
Thank you, Jen for enjoying this image, which I made right in your own town. You have expressed the essence of this building and its design in your evaluation of this image. "A stage of life, full of wonders and possibility." That is what great museums are supposed to be, right? And in Shanghai, they do it right! We both instinctively knew that in spite of the wonders of this structure, it is the people that make it live, and that one abstracted man at the very top center, is, as you say, the "king in this place." To me, the scale incongruity of that small man placed atop this vast space, speaks of infinite discovery. And that is literally what this great art museum offers, at least when it comes to Chinese art. You sum it up well with your phrase "everything in the picture is in good order." This image is built on geometry, Jen -- the geometry its designers intended, and the way I use that geometry within the frame, isolating these ramps in space as if in, as you say, "a labyrinth leading people to each other." Glad this image sticks in your mind. It is a good example of how to make a building picture speak to viewers.
Jennifer Zhou29-Dec-2004 15:37
I saw this picture just before my trip to Beijing and It never left my mind since then. I was amazed by this hige, geometrical structure, it is like a labyrinth, that leads people to each other. They are separated but somewhat also connected. It is like stage of life full of wonders and possibility. And of course the most subtle detail is that small secret figure on the very top, to me it is the soul of the picture, one of the most important elements. Everything in the picture in very good order and this figure is like the king in this place---a such happy surprise to me!

Jen
Phil Douglis22-Jul-2004 00:17
So do I. That's why I took it. This picture is all about geometry and scale -- all I needed were those people to give it scale and bring this building to life.
Wendy O21-Jul-2004 23:59
Love the lines!
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