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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Five: Stimulating the imagination with “opposites and contradictions” > Alley Encounter, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
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29-OCT-2005

Alley Encounter, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005

I was photographing this woman looking for the key to a door along this narrow alleyway set on a steep hill. Suddenly a young man loaded with schoolbooks entered my frame and moved up the alley towards her. She does not yet notice him. This enigmatic image asks more questions of the viewer than it answers. Is he a threat, a tease, or a cherished son or grandson planning a surprise visit? Is he stealthily sneaking up on her, or is he just trying gain traction on a very steep hill? He may be just a kid being a kid. I did not stay to learn the answers. They must come from our own imaginations. The more we study this image, the more contradictory it becomes. But then so is life itself.

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Phil Douglis07-Dec-2005 19:18
Thanks, Jen, for this comment. I did not plan to color coordinate the picture with the yellow wall, yellow dress, and yellow strap and book bag. It just happened. But you are right -- the color links them immediately and makes this image even stronger because, as you say, they are destined to share this moment in time together. Opposites and contradictions such as this one are the stuff of life itself, full of questions and yet also linkage. I never considered the fact that this kid might just be courteously trying to duck down and out of my picture. If he was, he certainly made the image work more expressively than if he was just walking up that hill.
Jennifer Zhou07-Dec-2005 08:07
Every visite to your gallery is a new inspiration to me. And now I am not only charmed by this picture, but also by what this picture lead us to----Life itself, just as what you said in the caption. Life is full of wonders, we can never quite figure out what it is. But for many things it is good to remain unanswered, that way, we will keep wondering...It's the charm about life, isn't it?

Before I notice the steep of the hill, I thought why this young man walks like an old person, is he trying to get down a little in order not to block your camera, or hide from it. And then I notice the color of yellow, first is the wall and the schoolbag on the boy's back, then it is the woman's skirt. It is like everything is linked here, and are destined to be linked together..
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