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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Two: On Safari -- expressing the essence of nature > Creatures of the road, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
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03-JAN-2006

Creatures of the road, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006

No matter where one goes in South Luangwa National Park, wildlife abounds on its roads and tracks. This warthog and francolin are keeping in step with their shadows near the Mushilashi River. I have used abstraction here to involve the imagination of the viewer. Rather than describing the appearance of these creatures (you can always consult a wildlife guide for such illustrations) I am suggesting nature at work here – with the large played against the small in an incongruent scale relationship. Neither the warthog nor the bird are mindful of each other. Each marches to its own stately beat, while the man-made track slices diagonally across their paths.

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Phil Douglis16-Jun-2007 05:42
Your imagination sees a fictional story unfolding here, Sun Han. I think they just wanted to get out of man's way -- it is the age-old struggle of man vs. beast we are seeing.
Guest 16-Jun-2007 04:42
pongo and twiggy, two friendly buddy,
are they going for a cartoon or for an afternoon tea?
Phil Douglis18-Feb-2006 00:11
You are right, Lara. Most animals in Africa learn to live and let live.
Lara S12-Feb-2006 18:06
At first I thought one animal was following the other, but that is not the case they are on different planes each in his own world not aware of the other one yest again they are sharing the same world.
Phil Douglis04-Feb-2006 23:07
I was thinking of a fable or parable as I shot this image -- and yes, the abstracted creatures do resemble an illustration from a children's book. Thanks, Celia, for appreciating my motives here.
Cecilia Lim04-Feb-2006 22:38
This is like a page out of the nursery rhymes or children's books where animals are always intellectualized and depicted as social creatures, even between different species. Here the warthog and the bird seem to be friends going somewhere together. They appear to have a plan... You prod our imaginations with this image, prompting us to "turn the page" and find out what they're up to next. Very cute!
Phil Douglis26-Jan-2006 06:25
Thanks, John -- the silhouette turns them from animals to symbols: in Africa the meek and the mighty trod the same path.
John Reed 26-Jan-2006 04:07
I like the way you've captured the Warthog and the bird as just two creatures who just decided to cross the road at the same time. The silhouetting works perfectly to make it a very nice compostion.
Phil Douglis24-Jan-2006 22:58
I knew when I made this image that you would enjoy this photo, Jen. It is almost like a fable. We expect some kind of moral to emerge from this encounter of hog and bird. Perhaps there is a moral to this story -- no matter how different we might be, we all share the same world, and its best that we learn how to share it well.
Jennifer Zhou24-Jan-2006 14:14
This picture makes me smile Phil! Two totally different kinds of creatures crossing the same road, lowering their heads, as if they have their own business to mind. When they are stepping on the road with abstracted shadows, I feel they are very much human only taking forms as animals. They seem very civilized and politely accept the differences of others.

The road is indicating the presence of human, I found the grass all dead on the road, but those creatures seem don't really mind. And this intersection is what links animals with our human being. We come from different ways, we have our own worlds, once a while we encounter on the road, It is hard to say who disturbs who,
but we all learn to get along and move on.
Phil Douglis24-Jan-2006 06:23
You and I see in very similar ways, Alister. I loved that cyclist and his shadow you link us to. I always looking for shadow play in my images. See the monitor lizard, for example, athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/55194533
alibenn24-Jan-2006 06:15
I like this too Phil...very much along the same lines as one of my recent images:http://www.pbase.com/alibenn/image/53631970
I like the way there is more detail in the shadow than in the back-lit subjects...
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