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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Four: The Workplace -- essence of a culture > Morning sweep, Mosque of Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco, 2006
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13-DEC-2006

Morning sweep, Mosque of Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco, 2006

This vast, elegant mosque is Casablanca's main tourist attraction. It is constantly being cleaned, and holds 25,000 worshippers. Opened in 1993, it is the second largest religious building in the world. Only the mosque in Mecca is larger. Instead of making a view of the entire mosque, I waited at the steps to one of entrances while a worker made her final morning sweep. I backed up a bit to create a foreground layer with the two ornate gold stanchions at the top of the steps. This layer repeats the vertical flow of the two columns flanking the mosaic at top center in the background layer. The story itself is told in the subject layer, as the sweeper, hand to chin, pushes her broom across the floor at the bottom of the steps. Her job is an ordinary one. The setting in which she works, however, is incongruously extraordinary.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/160s f/4.0 at 8.7mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis19-Apr-2007 17:37
I agree, Charu. Your observation has special relevance to travel photography. As travelers, we see a subject with new eyes because it is novel, unique to our experience. We gape, we marvel, and we photograph the things that make them special to us. We notice things that we would never notice at home, where things are familiar and thus invisible to us. That's why it is a good idea to practice seeing the familiar with unfamiliar eyes. I made this shot in my own backyard:http://www.pbase.com/image/65752938 -- when I really looked at this palm tree, I saw things I had never seen before, and stressed them here through the interplay of light and texture. All of which leads us to a simple truth: it's not really "what" we shoot that makes the difference in expression. It's "how and why" we shoot it that determines what we say.
Guest 19-Apr-2007 07:31
Phil, yes,my image is somewhat like this. I often think about how people who live and work in surroundings of grandeur always seem to take for granted, even ignore it completely... while "tourists" gape and marvel at them! this image seems to convey just that to me...
Phil Douglis16-Mar-2007 15:45
Thanks, Yiannis. There are two aspects of "clairity" to a picture: -- first there is the technical nature of the image itself, and secondly, there is the clarity of the idea and purpose to consider. I tried to keep the image very simple, which helps clarify the point of the image. As for that point itself, I think the message is clear: an ordinary job incongruously being performed in an extraordinary setting.
Yiannis Pavlis16-Mar-2007 13:03
Excellent clarity. Lighting and color are beautiful.
Phil Douglis09-Mar-2007 20:19
Thanks, Aloha, for noting the role of the depths of the building here. Your observation adds new meaning for me -- not only is this woman a nameless servant working amidst lavishly expensive and thus incongruous surroundings, but behind her is a cavernous space that pulls the viewer into the image and past her. In that black void rests a mysterious spiritual realm, and that is what a mosque is really all about.
Aloha Diao Lavina09-Mar-2007 04:46
I like photographs that present incongruities. Yes, the majesty of the mosque holds this woman in its shadow, much like a metaphor for her working existence. Amid the ornate designs of the walls, and the context of the building's social purpose, this worker is but a nameless job description. I like the contrast between the bright walls, the white uniform, and the depths of the building, which adds another dimension to the message in the photograph.
Phil Douglis28-Jan-2007 02:47
In a sense, that is what this very gallery tries to do, Tim -- honor the efforts of the unsung laborers at work around the world. Good luck on your own photo essay.
Tim May27-Jan-2007 18:52
I have thought about doing a photo essay about the behind the scenes workers that keep our world going. I am so often aware of them on journeys. Thanks for honoring her.
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