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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fourteen: Expressing the meaning of buildings and structures > General Store, Rhyolite, Nevada, 2007
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22-FEB-2007

General Store, Rhyolite, Nevada, 2007

Rhyolite is a ghost town just across the Nevada state line from Death Valley National Park. One of the many stores that served the 10,000 gold and silver miners who worked the mines in this area during the early years of the 20th Century still stands behind its homemade sign. It is now little more than an empty shell, just like the false front that tries to make it look more impressive than it really is. The building is now for up for sale, and stands forlorn in the early morning light. I interpret this building’s uncertain future by underexposing it, allowing the sign to glow and the building itself to recede into darkness.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/2000s f/11.0 at 28.8mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis04-Apr-2007 07:23
Thanks for seeing the Rhyolite's tombstone in this image, Iris. It is the perfect metaphor.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)04-Apr-2007 01:19
This glowing sign reminds me of a tombstone on a building, telling us that Rhyolite, too, once glowed brightly. Like this building, the mining town of Rhyolite also receded into darkness and became an empty shell of ruined structures.
Phil Douglis03-Mar-2007 19:56
Thanks, Tim, for seeing the connection here between the golden sign and the gold mining town, and the passage of time indicated by this image. I instinctively try to represent larger ideas with small things, just as you do. And smaller things usually lead to simple images.
Tim May03-Mar-2007 18:13
How good you are at capturing meaning in seemingly simple images - there is history in this image - with the warm glow of the sign reminding me of the minerals that brought this town to life and the aging building showing me where it is now.
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