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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Seven: As others see me > Framing Phil, by Carol Sandgren, Newberry Springs, California, 2006
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11-FEB-2006

Framing Phil, by Carol Sandgren, Newberry Springs, California, 2006

Carol Sandgren’s abstract portrait of me composing a photograph through the window of an abandoned Airstream trailer in the Mohave Desert, embodies much of what I teach in this cyberbook. Her image is simple, abstract, geometrically designed, and incongruous. It is a portrait without a face, yet it expresses great intensity. Her composition echoes mine -- frame within frame within frame. She expresses my methods in this portrait, rather than my appearance. You can see Carol’s galleries at http://www.pbase.com/sveetzel

Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel
1/320s f/9.0 at 122.0mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis27-Jun-2006 17:10
I had intended this gallery as a visual survey of how others see me. You take it to another dimension here, Jenene. You find good words to describe your own needs as a student, and how they dovetail with my teaching, and then you show us how Carol's image expresses the essence of my approach. You are right on. Cut the crap, and go for the meat. Carol's abstraction here is almost a logo for my "less is more" approach.
JSWaters27-Jun-2006 16:49
I would only add a personal context. Not only does this say something about photographers in general, but also about those of us who wish to learn all we can from you about expressive photography. Your eye and concentration have a penetrating focus and an enlightened, (sometimes frustrating), viewpoint to offer. Here we see you, thanks to Carol's abstraction, cutting through the unnecessary (crap) and getting to the meat of the image.
Jenene
Phil Douglis25-Jun-2006 17:58
Thanks, Marisa, for this wonderful response to Carol's image of me. I like the eye metaphor -- I did not see the window of the trailer as relating to the "eye of the camera" until you mentioned the connection. I also did not initially see this image as a series of layers that enshroud us as humans, layers that must be unraveled if we are to reach the core of the person. Metal armor, indeed! Now that you mention it, I see this image as saying a lot about photographers in general. As image makers, we are always on the outside, looking in. Our cameras are a glass wall, allowing us to observe, record and interpret what may see, but not actually participate in what we are seeing. That's why we are often viewed as witnesses and observers. Now that you bring these things up, Marisa, I won't look at this image in the same way again, and I am sure that Carol will get as much out of your thought provoking comment as much as I did.
Guest 25-Jun-2006 14:07
what I like of this image is the way it is composed: right into the essence and with the principal 'subject' in 'focus'. Behind the metal armor we find the man, absoluetly concentrated. More than a frame within a frame, I see eyes within eyes: from the hole/eye in the foreground to the camera/eye in the background that, like an endless mirror game, looks again at the eye/us. Like layes that must be removed to finally reach the essence in the core of the humans.
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