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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Eight: The camera as time machine: linking the past to the present > Phantom Packard, Scotty’s Castle, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007
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22-FEB-2007

Phantom Packard, Scotty’s Castle, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007

I made two entirely different images of this 1933 Packard, which was originally purchased by Albert Johnson, a Chicago insurance millionaire, who built Scotty's Castle in 1927 – a mansion on an oasis in one of the most isolated places in the United States. The car was a present for Johnson’s niece. I made both this image and the one you can see by clicking on the thumbnail at the end of this caption, by shooting through a small crack in the back window of the castle garage where it is presently parked. The other image expresses itself through color and detail. This is a more abstract photograph, featuring a reflection of a barred castle window, and using sepia color, soft focus, and grainy texture to achieve the effect of a vintage image. Both the barred window and the lavish automobile carry symbolic meaning, and so does the execution of the image itself, which pulls the viewer back to another time. The Packard becomes less a car and more a phantom.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/3s f/3.2 at 18.1mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis30-Apr-2007 17:13
Glad you are enjoying Death Valley, Carole, and I look forward to seeing your photographs. As for the Packard, we got to Scotty's Castle too late to take the tour of the interior, so we had to shoot from outside the building. I made this picture through a back window, which provided both an expressive vantage point and the useful reflection.
Carole Scurlock30-Apr-2007 05:15
I was at Scotty's Castle today enjoying the oasis of cool breezes and temperatures, but I chose not to photograph the Packard - an oversite on my part . . . This image captures my feelings of the long desert drive out of the valley - hot and and sand-pitted. Hope to post my Death Valley images soon . .
Phil Douglis18-Mar-2007 23:21
Glad you asked, Jenene. This castle was built as a refuge, an escape from disease. Albert Johnson hoped the dry climate here would cure his ailments. Barred windows were built, no doubt, to keep potential thieves, etc. out of the castle. But in this case, I see larger symbolic meaning to them -- they also keep out anything -- including disease -- that would threaten the seclusion and the health Johnson was seeking. The car meanwhile symbolizes the life style this castle represented. Ironically, there were very few roads in Death Valley at the time he purchased this car for his niece. I doubt if she was able to get much use out of it. And so it sits here in the shadow of those reflected bars -- an ornament of wealth from another era.
JSWaters18-Mar-2007 17:04
Very dreamlike and evocative of another era. I agree that the noise helps set the mood here. I'm curious to hear more about the symbolism of the barred window.
Jenene
Phil Douglis03-Mar-2007 20:48
I seldom bring noise to my images, but in this case, it was the right thing to do. It does speak of the dusty desert that is Death Valley. And it also evokes a time when grainy pictures were as common as clear images.
Tim May03-Mar-2007 19:27
The noise in this image seems to me evoke the sand and dust of the desert which covers this landscape.
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