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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twelve: Using color to express ideas > Roof Tiles, Church of St. Mark, Zagreb, Croatia, 2005
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05-SEP-2005

Roof Tiles, Church of St. Mark, Zagreb, Croatia, 2005

The tiled roof of Zagreb's Church of St. Mark bears the coats of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia, Slavonia and Zagreb. Here, one of those coats of arms almost fills the view down Cirilometodska Street. If ever an image called for color, it is this one. Colors project the symbolic meaning of heraldic subjects. Not only is the color essential to the roof tiles. It also makes the flags function as flags. The only thing in this image not totally dependent on color for meaning is the portal of the church itself. I used the full length of my 432mm telephoto lens to compress those flags, along with the light fixtures hanging over the street, into the tiles.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20
1/1000s f/6.5 at 72.0mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis26-Feb-2006 03:37
Thanks, Rod. It's about time somebody noticed this image, and I am glad it was you. It was interesting that you see the roof tiles as a woven material. I have really abstracted them by removing the shape of the roof by cropping the image in my viewfinder so tightly. As you note, the long telephoto's ability to compress objects at a distance, flattening perspective, has pushed flags, tiles, lights, and a church entrance together, creating, in essence, a Croatian quilt. Glad you like it. I shot it for the colors, but there is, as you note, so much more going on here.
Guest 26-Feb-2006 01:37
Hi, Phil! You may not have known, but I have returned to this photo several times, looking at it 15 or 20 minutes at a time. I am not sure what to make of it (I mean this in a good way.). I find it interesting, but until today I could not say "why." I finally think I can explain why I love this photo so much:

Using the telephoto end of your camera's lens compresses the scene, as you stated. But, this compression has created an interesting illusion to me. The tiles do not look like tiles any more. To me, they now look like a woven, Croatian mat with various smal items placed on it. In other words, all of the elements look like a type of collage: an ethnic mat in the background, a church entrance on the right and flags on the left. It is as if several pictures are pasted together to give a view of Croatia.
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