Fish market, Garibaldi, Oregon, 2006 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Fish market, Garibaldi, Oregon, 2006

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09-JUN-2006

Fish market, Garibaldi, Oregon, 2006

By altering perspective, color, and exposure, I have changed the appearance of these freshly caught halibut from fish to flesh. To accomplish this, I moved in very close, cropping the subject in the frame, stressing the diagonal flow of the foreground fish. I complement that main diagonal with the smaller repeating rippling ridges that move as cross diagonals through the image. By shooting into the light and using the spot meter, I put the foreground into deep shadow and deepen the pinkish color of the flanks. If I had just stood back and framed and exposed the subject “normally” I would have only described the appearance of two halibut on a market table. Instead, I’ve interpreted them, changing their form and coloration by abstracting through vantage point, frame, and exposure.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/100s f/5.6 at 31.2mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		29-Jun-2007 19:11
You make several significant points in your comments, Daniel. Sometimes it is best not to over-analyze an image. Just let it enter the imagination and gradually do its work, as Zandra (Miinerva) points out. However analysis can help you understand the many ways in which abstraction can encourage unlimited thought -- which is the purpose of this particular image and this entire gallery. As for telling a story, I think you are limiting the value of an image by looking for a story in traditional narrative terms. As you say, the image speaks volumes to you about freshness and cleanliness -- and that is a story of its own kind. An expressive image need not always tell a story in narrative terms. A story in photographic terms is more than an evolving account of an event, place, or subject. It is simply a process of communication, illumination, or education. If an image makes you think of an old subject in a fresh way, such as this image does for you in terms of freshness and cleanliness, it is telling a story of another kind.

Guest		28-Jun-2007 23:43
And one more thing, the thumbnail of this image does not do this photo justice!!! It needs to be shown in its full glory, where vieweres can admire the texture of the skin, and the detail of the reflections.

Guest		28-Jun-2007 23:41
FIrst of all, Minerva's comment here resonates with my own thoughts. "no trying to analyze it just enjoying the crisp and fresh feelign of it." With every image here, I keep trying to analyze and study it, trying to gain more insight, a deeper meaning, and learn just a teeny bit more from every photo. The abstraction of the fish makes it a visually interesting photo; while I feel like it does not tell a story, it does speak volumes about freshness and cleanliness. The photo also illustrates the inherent refreshing feeling of the ocean. This reminds me of Japanese sashimi-- fresh fish, reduced to its simplest core, yet such a refined taste.

Phil Douglis		24-Aug-2006 17:24
You have done a beautiful job of summing up what I tried to express here, Rodney, and how I did it. As you say, I've changed fish to flesh, and I did it by changing my perspective and allowing the backlight and my exposure to alter the its color. You are right -- expressive photography is more than framing and shooting. I've tried to use my choices in light and space here to dramatically change the appearance of the subject itself in order to express its essence as food.

Guest		24-Aug-2006 12:58
The colors are amazing. I've not seen halibut of this color before. Your statement of "...I have changed the appearance of these freshly caught halibut from fish to flesh" really describes what I see. As heavily abstracted as this photograph is, I still know it is a fish, because you left us with the most essential elements (the scanse, the tail's tell-tale shape and the tapering of the body to that tail). You masterfully use light, along with perspective to bring out the textures of the scales, of both the primary and sencondary fish. You also show us a lesson that even with a zoom, we must still move ourselves, and not just frame and shoot. By combining perspective, plus utilizing the tools you have, you create an expressive photo, instead of a typical descriptive one.

Phil Douglis		11-Aug-2006 18:36
A sensual adventure, indeed, Jude. That is pretty much how I see this image. I felt it with my eyes, even as I made it. I was stunned at its tactility. And amazed at how the backlighting intensified the textures even while abstracting the fish, asking you to answer those very questions.

Jude Marion		11-Aug-2006 17:36
Phil, we only know these are fish because we see the telltale fin and tail (and by the title). The lighting and reflections on the flesh are so appealing to the tactile sense. We want to touch it (not something that a lot of fish images encourage in me!) Is this surface soft, like a textured satiny fabric, or hard, like a moist slate? You draw the viewer into the image, on a sensual adventure.

Phil Douglis		10-Aug-2006 18:28
Glad you love this photo, Zandra. If the kitchen wall of your new home in Canada needs an image, send me your address and I will mail you a print. There is no such thing as a mundane subject. We can elevate it to food for the imagination (pun intended) by simply abstracting it. The key, as you say, is striking that balance between what is familiar and what is not.

Guest		10-Aug-2006 12:12
First of all i have to say that i just lvoe this photo just as iti s, no trying to analyze it just enjoying the crisp and fresh feelign of it. Great photo to have on the kitchen wall. Indeed the vantage point has made the difference here. YOur note, and of course your execution is spot on. Going from a mundane object and abstracting to a vivid and interesting peace of art. As the imagaination fills in the missing parts, still with use of familiar elements in the picture the photo gets so much more life.

Phil Douglis		14-Jul-2006 16:18
What a wonderful comment, Sun Han. I agree with you about the haptic nature of this image. It encourages us to touch, feel, and manipulate the halibut, thereby allowing us to go beyond our normal way of perception, and see it in a new way. I think it can also be called an abstraction, since I deliberately hone these fish down to a glowing essence, remove descriptive detail, and encourage the viewer's imagination to fill in the details. But you have added another level of meaning to this image for us, stressing the sense of intimacy and the role of shadow, line, and color. I also find your reference to the sea as as the source of life and memory to be fascinating. The fish on this table now become primal symbols as well. As for the orange color, I am sure it has something to do with the translucent quality of the skin. I was shooting into the light source, and perhaps the sensitivity of the camera sensor has picked up the color of the flesh beneath the skin here. Thank you, Sun Han, for this substantive and thoughtful comment. You have given me, and all of us, a new way to both look at, and feel, this image. You have the become the teacher here, and we are your students.

Guest		14-Jul-2006 14:35
this image works for me in many ways, instead of calling an image of abtraction and i would rather say it's a "haptic image", for haptic, or tactile, is much less abstract than the word "abstraction", haptic image not only appeals to a visual recognition, but also appeals to others sensed based on touch, the feelings that attached to skin, even to viscerals. haptic image is powerful because it go beyond a consensus of iconic representation of things. this photos conveys a sense of intimacy because the vintage point is closer to the skin and compressed the space by shadow and the contours of the body lines, the biological curves of fish and its amazing flesh colors also contribute to the intimacy, last but not least, the waters opens at upright corner alude to the common source of life and memory while the fin at the downleft corner pinpoint the direction and balance the shade perfectly personally, i never see haibut fish in orange red with a tint of blue, thus it keeps me wondering if it's the reflection from the other side

Phil Douglis		24-Jun-2006 17:06
Welcome to my galleries, Annie, and thanks for the metaphor. You are right -- there is the swell of ocean waves in this image, reminding us of home for both the fish, and for humans as well. The fish will be consumed by humans, and our species, too, originated in the same waters.

Annie J		24-Jun-2006 06:07
I see more "ocean waves", kind of reminding you/making you think where the fish came from

Phil Douglis		19-Jun-2006 19:30
When we abstract a subject like this, commonplace subjects can open themselves to constant reinterpretation. It does not surprise me, given the other images I've recently posted made along the coast of Oregon, that you see dunes made of fresh flesh. Edible dunes, at that. You have a wonderful imagination, Jenene -- it is a pleasure for me to trigger such incongruous ideas.

JSWaters		19-Jun-2006 18:51
Dunes made of fish flesh.

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