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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Nine: Composition -- putting it together > Energy, Three Gorges Dam, Sandouping, China, 2004
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01-JUL-2004

Energy, Three Gorges Dam, Sandouping, China, 2004

Another view of the worlds largest dam in operation, and another message as well. In this attempt, I compose an image around three elements—linking a larger view of the dam itself, to a blast of water being released at its base, and the power towers that surround the project. I organized this image around a series of horizontal layers. At the base is frothing water and an explosive thrust of pent up energy coming through the dam. The middle layer features the dam’s upper portion, a series of vertical niches that carry the eye across the frame towards the base of the powerlines in the upper right hand corner. The top layer includes a red tower, an echo of the two similar red towers the bottom, as well as the powerline towers themselves. Diffusion caused by spray on my lens gives the image and its colors an overall muted tone, bringing a dream-like aura to the scene.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/1250s f/4.5 at 17.6mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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ruthemily17-Apr-2005 22:43
thanks for linking me to the next photo...i am off to view it now!
Phil Douglis17-Apr-2005 22:13
Good point, Ruth. This is a soul-less image. It is evidence of man's need to tame nature for his own purposes. Even if it means terrible things like dislocating two million people (See my portrait at:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/31310838 for my interpretation of that issue.) I posted this image to demonstrate how I compose my images, but in the process I have obviously expressed the monumentally inhumane scale of this structure and you have gone on to relate that to the human values implied here. I have also expressed ideas that have forced you to give this picture much thought. When we weigh the economic benefits of this dam against the suffering and loss it has caused, what is the net gain or loss? Is it right or wrong? If my composition has helped make an image that can stimulate such questions, it is working effectively.
ruthemily17-Apr-2005 21:13
i am going to return to the first comment made in this gallery by Bruce Berrien. where are the people? where are the people, indeed. that was the first thought that came into my head when i saw this photograph. not because i associate "Phil photos" with people, but because i associate the Three Gorges Dam with a controversial dis-location of about 2 million people. the power of the water in this photograph says a lot, as do all the power lines in the background. yes, this dam has provided economic benefits by means of hydroelectric power, but at what cost? i find your photo soul-less. not because it is a bad photo without expression. i find that you strongly express a lack of soul. does that make sense?
Phil Douglis10-Jan-2005 20:39
Thank you, Dandan. None of this would have ever happened had you not felt the need to criticize the yellowish color of the original. I was so used that color that it never occurred to me to play with color balance and come up with an new color approach with new implied meaning. I am owe it all to your honesty and sense of color. I am thrilled that you love it, Dandan. To me, it now speaks of China. To have one of my Chinese friends tell me how much this image means to them is very special. I should be the one that thanks you, not vice versa. The image you now see posted here is the new version. Enjoy.
Guest 10-Jan-2005 20:05
Phil, I just received your last version of the Dam, and I absolutely love it. I’ll try to explain why I felt that, and you will let me know if I am right…
I love the intense golden glow you put it on. Especially you darken the upper part of the dam, made the lower water part became the focal part of the image to emphasis the energy. I see sunrise from the glow; that represents hope and future, very positive energy. With the still exited mist and haziness, it still has the “dream-like” feeling. I just love it. Thanks Phil!
Guest 10-Jan-2005 16:03
Phil, thanks for sending me all different versions of the dam. I have looked at them over and over (original, bluish, reddish and sharp version)… Let me try to explain how I see it now…

I understand that you are using the yellowish cast to represent the color of the Yangtze, but I guess that also made me sense that it’s a much polluted environment, including the yellowish sky. Thus it’s an unpleasant feeling.
The bluish version cools down the picture, as it supposes to do. At the first glance, I told myself, oh, I like that, since the sky seems bluer and it’s a more appealing imager to me. Then I moved to the reddish version, and then I went back to the blue and back forwards for I don’t know how many times. But I think I understood why I like the reddish the best. Even the bluish version clears the sky, but it also made the red structures more pop up, more attention has drowned to them. Also the bluish cast seems reduced the power or energy released from the frothing water. On the other hand, the reddish version doesn’t make the red structures competing with the water, the warmish tone helps bringing up the energy level. I hope you could understand what I am trying to say here….

Now, for the muted tone, I guess you were right, for a beginner in photography; I tended to look for sharpness and clarity in an image as a symbol of excellence. That’s probably why I didn’t feel very comfortable at this image. But now I looked at the sharp version of the Dam. It’s quiet obvious that because of the sharpness bring out all the details, the vertical structure of the upper part of the Dam is the only thing that you can see…that isn’t what we want it, is it?! I guess you used the muted hazy tone to present the dam as a symbol of power, clarity and details here are not important anymore.
In your words, abstract vs.literal.

I think I am just talking myself through it. Now I look again your original yellowish version, the color doesn’t seem bother me anymore. Am I making myself conflicting here? :-/

Thanks Phil, for take time take me through these steps…

On the other thought, if I don’t like the mute and haziness in image, why do I like this picture so much?http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/22394068
Phil Douglis10-Jan-2005 00:19
Thanks, Dandan, for your constructive criticism of the muted tone and the warmish cast in this image. To remove this color in Photoshop would require replacing it with another color, right? The yellowish warmth reflects the yellowish brown water in the Yangtze itself, but there is no reason why we could not shift the color to reduce that effect. Would you like to see it more bluish, or reddish? Let me know why.

As for the muted tone, that is the result of the water in the air. I consider that to be an essential part of the idea here, and yes,by increasing contrast and brightening the image to remove that muted tone, we would indeed remove the dream like feeling. Changing the muted tone to a more lively one would not have any negative impact on my attempt to present the size and power of the dam itself, but it would certainly change the feeling i wanted to convey in this image. I wanted to make it seem almost as if seen in a dream, and not in reality. You would have me make it more real, and thus more literal and less abstract.
Guest 09-Jan-2005 14:42
Phil, the muted tone and yellowish cast make me a little bit uncomfortable, but I couldn’t understand why. Do you think if we remove these tone and cast in photoshop, that would change this “dream-like” feeling you mentioned? If it does remove the dream-like feeling, would that have any negative impacts on the image to present the size and power side of the dam?
Phil Douglis16-Aug-2004 01:21
The people are benefiting from all of that power, Bruce!
Guest 15-Aug-2004 02:57
An industrial landscape! Not a typical Phil Douglis photo - where are the people? :)
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