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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Four: Photographing the tourist in all of us > Tour Guide, Chongqing, China, 2004
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28-JUN-2004

Tour Guide, Chongqing, China, 2004

I made this portrait of the tour guide who accompanied us on the long journey from Chengdu to Chongqing while she waited patiently for stragglers to re-board our tour bus. I framed her within the bus door, capturing her dignity and poise in this image. Making this portrait was easier than most because she spoke fluent English and I had talked with her earlier about photography. She had some idea why I was making so many photographs of her. She knows that I am photographing her from inside the bus, yet she shows no signs of self-consciousness or embarrassment whatsoever. She has a job to do – she must make sure everyone last one of us gets back on this tour bus – and she is intent on doing that job well. Her concentration and patience, along with the context given the picture by the bus and the surrounding parking lot, validate her skill as a professional tour guide.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/50s f/2.8 at 7.2mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis27-Aug-2006 19:21
Thanks, Jim, for noticing the importance of my vantage point here. As I said to Barri earlier, the vantage point inserts the viewer into the picture. We see her, but she does not seem to see us. She is too busy concentrating on
her own priorities as a tour guide.
james200227-Aug-2006 17:19
Nice capture. I like the angle.
Jim
Phil Douglis03-Mar-2006 19:43
Good eye, Santana. She holds her ground, confident in her own abilities to run a good tour.
Santana 03-Mar-2006 06:32
There's these shiny cars around her but she still stands confident, sure. She doesn't wait inside the bus, she shows that she's not ashamed.

That's how I see it.
Phil Douglis02-Oct-2005 21:08
Maybe she is annoyed -- a tour guide's life is filled with annoyances. But I am glad the photo makes you think. That is its purpose.
virginiacoastline02-Oct-2005 15:19
She appears to me to be annoyed . . .which may not be true, but then that is what you mentioned form the beginning . . the foto is not the truth, and I have NO idea what she really feels, but I do get a 'feeling' from the picture and THAT, I suppose, is the whole idea.
Phil Douglis06-Jan-2005 05:30
Thanks, Barri. I call this approach to vantage point "putting the viewer into the picture." I often use it when I want the viewer to feel as they are actually "there." I used it on this portrait of one our Chinese guides, because it expresses her patience from the standpoint of those she is serving.
Barri Olson06-Jan-2005 05:00
I love the angles on this Phil, it looks just like when a person is looking down out of a bus...had it been nice and straight it wouldn't have had anywhere near the same presence. Very cool.
Barri
Phil Douglis09-Oct-2004 23:30
Thanks for being the first to comment on this working portrait, Rodney. It helped, of course, that she was our tour guide and she had spent a least an hour picking my brain about photography during this long bus ride. So when I photographed her, she knew exactly what I was doing, and there was no self-consciousness whatsoever. The door is her environment -- she stands there to make sure everyone is accounted for. It does provide the context for this image to work.
Guest 09-Oct-2004 22:30
She looks very diligent, but her stance also shows she's patient and relaxed. I like framing her in the door, with the rest of the scene clearly seen. It gives a sense of place that addes to her being in that spot at that time
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