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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Touch of dawn, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 2006
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26-SEP-2006

Touch of dawn, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 2006

We often see calendar and post card images of the Grand Teton Range looming over the historic Moulton Barns at their feet. Most photographers prefer to shoot this scene in the early morning, when the rising sun behind them bathes the mountains and sage in golden light. I was but one out of many photographers whose lenses were trained on this subject on a bitterly cold late September morning. I photographed the scene for about a half hour. This is my favorite image, probably far more abstract than the one that most of the other photographers were making that morning. The rising sun just barely grazes the peaks of the mountains. Most of the mountains are still in dark shadow, as is the famous main barn of the 19th century Moulton community. I suggest the presence of the old red barn and its surroundings, but my story here is really the first light of dawn on these mountain peaks, not the battered beauty of the old structure at their feet. (You can see fully illuminated image I made of this same scene in my Vista gallery by clicking on the thumbnail below:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50
1/250s f/4.0 at 23.2mm iso200 full exif

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Phil Douglis24-Aug-2007 05:10
The most exciting aspect of expressive photography, Cyndy, is exactly what you mention here -- the unpredictable nature of interpretation. Everyone will see what they want to see in an image, according to their own experiences and the contexts that they bring to the image. The image is a trigger to thought and emotion -- it starts the ball rolling, and the viewer supplies the rest. You see a patriotic landscape, and so a patriotic landscape it becomes. Yet that was the furthest thing from my mind as I made this photograph. Interpretation, as you say, is indeed wonderful.
Guest 23-Aug-2007 23:36
The first thing that struck me about this image was it's predisposition towards patriotic colors--red, white, and blue. Odd, but that's what I see. Interpretation is wonderful, no?
Phil Douglis05-Aug-2007 18:41
You come to this image as an experienced artist, Patricia, and you bring your knowledge of color and its meaning to bear on it. I agree -- there is as much about color here as there is in terms of what we see and what don't see. Color can play a major role in an abstract photograph -- as you note, it leads the eye here, gradually taking the image from cool to warm, and creating a pleasing sense of balance. The balance of nature itself.
Patricia Lay-Dorsey05-Aug-2007 06:29
It is the colors that stir me in this image. The umbers in the foreground moving into the line of moss green of the field, leading up to a gradient of blue-greens in the mountain's shadow, then the warm greys above the timberline, and finally the brick red of the sun-kissed peaks, topped by the warm grey of the sky. Warms & cools give such depth to a painter's palette, and to a photographer's landscape. And when they are ranged in horizotal layers as in this image, they give the viewer a sense that all is right with the world. Balance does that.
Phil Douglis29-Jun-2007 18:59
You make another good point here, Daniel -- some images make their impact immediately. Others take a bit longer. In this case, you warm to the image much as the sun gradually brings the new day. I am delighted it brings a peaceful feeling. That was my intention here.
Guest 28-Jun-2007 23:23
To me this picture is very calming-- that feeling you get when you first watch the sun peek out of the horizon. No drama, no intense feelings inside. It is in stark contrast to the photo just below it. More than anything the image above represents a calming peace. Along with the grand expanse of the place, its as if this calming peace transcends over everyone. To be honest, this image didn't really hit me as hard as others. But then, I slowly began to warm up to it. Now I'm just overcome by this amazingly peaceful feeling inside me. Thanks, Phil-- an excellent mid-day stress relief.
Phil Douglis11-Nov-2006 19:47
I hope you will come to the states someday to see such wonders as this, Theodore. And perhaps get a chance to work with me here in Arizona as well.
Guest 11-Nov-2006 11:14
Beautiful. I'm wondering why i havent visited the States yet. The irony is that i've got an American degree which i completed here in Malaysia.
Phil Douglis29-Oct-2006 18:43
To me, this was the most dramatic moment of the entire shoot. The fully illuminated scene athttp://upload.pbase.com/image/69217051 tells the story from the standpoint of the foreground. This image works from the top of the background. And yes, the symbolism of bringing light and hope to a world in darkness was part of my idea. Thanks for commenting on it, Dandan.
Guest 29-Oct-2006 13:14
beautiful! the kiss of the sun rays sure bring hope to the dark side of world...
Phil Douglis27-Oct-2006 06:47
I don't combine pictures, as you know. Reality is more important to me than effect. But I am glad you find it a scary sight. Some might find the coming of dawn a symbol of hope. But I can see how this image can also be taken as surreal.
Christine P. Newman27-Oct-2006 00:11
It looks almost like a molten lava rock combined in photoshop to another picture. Very surreal and scary. On time for Halloween...
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