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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Two: Travel Incongruities > Double gulp, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2006
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23-FEB-2006

Double gulp, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2006

The iconic swan has a gracefully curved neck. But these swans are less than graceful as they search for a meal in the waters of a lagoon. By abstracting both of the heads, I double the incongruity – two underwater beaks are perhaps more efficient than one. Bubbles float among them, additionally incongruous evidence of swan breath. I compose the image by bringing in one swan from the upper left, the other from the upper right. Somewhere around the lower middle they must converge in common hunger. I leave the rest to the imagination of my viewers.

Leica D-Lux 2
1/1300s f/8.0 at 18.0mm iso80 full exif

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Phil Douglis13-Jul-2006 04:36
Sun Han -- I love your the way your imagination sees the necks as pipes, and the eating as talking. You have a very fertile imagination, and it is a delight for me to have it take my images and run with them. I also hope you are learning something about abstraction and incongruity here as well.
Guest 10-Jul-2006 22:33
bravo, two pipes talk underwater
Phil Douglis14-Jun-2006 17:46
The bubbles and the green heads below the water add a layer of pleasure to his image, Jen -- I am glad you appreciate my intentions here. I like to find those surprises for my viewers -- making ordinary subjects into extraordinary images is what fires my passion as an expressive photographer.
Jennifer Zhou12-Jun-2006 14:49
When I first saw the thumbnail, it looks like two piece of petals flowing on the surface of the water, but then I realized it is two living creatures having lunch. I always admire your ability to find surprises within even the smallest thing, and the way you interprete it making it a piece of art. And I love those bubbles, bring fun and live to the photo!
Phil Douglis20-May-2006 05:11
I thought it funny as well. I like your point, Celia, about showing the full feathery bodies with the hidden heads too -- but by instinct, I always crop as tightly as I can in the viewfinder for maximum detail. In this case I may have come in too close. Framing always work best in hindsight (pun intended), doesn't it?
Cecilia Lim19-May-2006 20:47
I like this one! A funny and bizarre moment for us humankind, yet completely natural and necessary for these swans' survival. This is an incongruous image indeed, debunking all human perception that a swan's elegant and slender neck exists purely for aesthetics only - which infact appears to be functionally designed instead for pokeing around below the water surface for food! It's just a thought - but I think I may prefer to see the bodies of the two swans uncropped in their full form with their soft feathery tails - it may make their cropped heads look even more incongruous.
Phil Douglis15-May-2006 16:24
Thanks, Shirley. Glad you like it -- and thanks, too for suggesting I boost the contrast levels here. I've done just that. How do you like it now?
Shirley Wang15-May-2006 12:26
Very fun moment whatever we imagine they are doing. More color contrast though might be stronger.
Phil Douglis12-May-2006 22:57
Thanks, Tim and Jenene, for relating to this image. The degree of abstraction here makes it an incongruous image. It triggers the imagination -- asking all of us to figure out what is going on below the surface. For Tim's it's gossip, for Jenene it's playful bubble blowing. For me, it's feeding time.
JSWaters12-May-2006 22:37
My reaction is similar to Tim's, but instead of two swans conversing, this is my brother and I learning to swim and blowing bubbles under water at each other! Playful and unguarded.
Tim May12-May-2006 21:21
I really like this image and your take on it - I add my own meaning by calling it "Gossip" for me, these two are conversing underwater and the bubbles are their idle chatter. _ I know that's not what's going on, but I still like my take.
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