photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Three: Using light and color to define and contrast textures > Colorado River, Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona, 2006
previous | next
05-FEB-2006

Colorado River, Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Arizona, 2006

From the top of a cliff high over the river, I used my 420mm telephoto lens and spot meter to focus and expose on the textures of a great crescent of water streaming out from the rocky point of land. Six different textures contrast with each other in this image. Three of them are created by the effect of water. The wavy water at the bottom of the image is quite different from the water in the sweeping crescent that catches the rays of a fading sun. The pool of calm water between crescent and land offers a smooth and tranquil texture. There are also three textures present in the land. A green beach glows with moisture. A rocky brown transitional zone links that beach to a textured stand of brownish trees in the upper right hand corner of the image, giving the viewer a sense of scale that would otherwise be missing.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/500s f/6.3 at 88.8mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Phil Douglis18-Jul-2006 04:23
For the first time, the two Ceclias meet at the same image. And you both see this image in similar ways -- from a great height, a surrealistic impression of watery thrust and flow, even both noting a resemblance to the curvature of the earth from outer space in this scene. Both of you use words that are the equal of this image in their expressiveness. It is a delight to have both of you analyzing so many of my images, and to see you converge at last.
Guest 18-Jul-2006 04:13
I also felt this picture seemed to be taken from a great height, way off the earth; it almost gave me a bit of motion sickness, like all this water was being tipped out of a giant cauldron, and would pour and pour, and I was riding on it. It is tremendously graceful, as though looking at the curvature of the earth from far away, with its beautiful colors.
Phil Douglis09-Mar-2006 17:18
I had a feeling you would be attracted to the cosmic thrust of this image, Celia. It does indeed resemble something in outer space. I was thinking about that as I made the shot. The trees are critical here -- they give the image its scale, and suggests just how large the forces at work here are. Thank you again for this comment -- you really put my image into perspective here.
Cecilia Lim09-Mar-2006 14:21
Wow! This is a surreal image of the Colorado River. It is reminiscent of the images that were taken of earth from outerspace, often seen as swirls and patches of blue, green, brown and white. Even the curve of the gigantic shadow is akin to the shadows that engulf half our earth, dividing our planet into day and night. I'm not sure I'm reading anything about the contraversial effect of man on this river in this image, but with the trees that you've added for scale, I get a sense that we are dealing with something colossal here. Perhaps rightly so because from what I know, the Colorado river is a mighty river that has cut through, shaped and formed the land dramatically everywhere it's gone.
Phil Douglis19-Feb-2006 23:19
I saw the directional flow of those "sparkles" as representing the effect of man upon the natural water flow of a river. And that is what a dam is really all about -- controlling river water flow to make it productive. There has always been heated controversy over the Glen Canyon Dam, and the creation of the Lake Powell recreation area behind it. In fact, this controversy contributed to the modern day environmental movement. Environmental controversy still rages around this dam. Only a week after I made this picture, environmental groups accused the Interior Department of failing to protect native fish in the Grand Canyon and asked a federal court to order changes in how water flows into the Colorado River from the Glen Canyon Dam. And this image, abstract as it may be, is a thought provoking image of how man has made that flow of water behave.




Carol E Sandgren19-Feb-2006 19:12
A beautiful abstract, but just literal enough to tell what it is. The direction of the sparkles leads my eye to the shadowy unknown.
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment