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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Two: On Safari -- expressing the essence of nature > Trunks and tusks, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
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05-JAN-2006

Trunks and tusks, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006

The trunks of trees and elephants have strikingly similar colors and textures. Elephants use their tusks to pry off chunks of delicious bark, and grasp them with their trunks to begin the meal. I draw the two kinds of trunks together in this photo, adding the tusks and even the missing chunk of bark. By abstracting an elephant in this way, I create incongruous juxtapositions to tell this story.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/160s f/5.6 at 71.4mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis09-Mar-2006 17:19
Thanks, Shirley, for leaving this comment. I hope it will be the first of many. Yes, there is a whimsical touch to this image, a play on words. I love visual/verbal puns.
Shirley Wang09-Mar-2006 14:27
I can help but laughing from the humor expressed through "trunks".
Phil Douglis30-Jan-2006 03:25
Thanks, Christine for taking the time to come to my galleries and leave this gracious comment. You are right about context -- good words can often improve good pictures. Nobody comes to such an image as this with all of the context already in mind. I carefully research every image I post, and make sure that I give the viewer everything I can to enrich his or her viewing experience.
Guest 30-Jan-2006 00:46
This is such a strong picture. Remove the tusks and you could hardly guess that it is the trunk of an elephant. As indicated in your caption, colour and texture are the key here. We also needed your caption to make the link with the elephant's meal, unless we were specialists in these animals habits. Christine
Phil Douglis24-Jan-2006 23:19
Texture and symbols in juxtaposition, which together tell a story.
monique jansen24-Jan-2006 14:51
This one is all about texture for me
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