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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Two: Adding meaning to scenic vistas > Survivor, Leadfield, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007
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22-FEB-2007

Survivor, Leadfield, Death Valley National Park, California, 2007

A one building town is a perfect subject for a vista – and Leadfield fills that role. It was a gold mining boomtown founded on distorted advertising. In August, 1926, more than 300 people moved to Leadfield to get rich. They didn’t. In February, 1927, everyone departed. Today only one small building survives in Leadfield. I photographed it from behind with a 28mm wideangle lens, so that I could embrace it with the very hills that were supposed to provide instant wealth. The red paint on the building may be 80 years old, but it still vividly anchors the image and gives the scale incongruity the image requires to work as an effective vista.

Leica D-Lux 3
1/800s f/8.0 at 6.3mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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blizzard29-Dec-2007 18:49
excellent camera work
marvelous composition v
Phil Douglis27-Jun-2007 18:23
Blood red, indeed, Ai Li. I like your heart metaphor here. The texture in this vista is in the land itself. The texture of the paint on the building is far too small to see and feel. That would have to be the subject of another kind of image altogether.
AL27-Jun-2007 13:56
Bloody red, as if it's the surviving heart of Leadfield, fighting for every gasp of breath it could possibly take! And I was hoping to get a closer look at its texture but I guess that would mean losing the scale and the space.
Phil Douglis26-Mar-2007 02:32
Thanks, Carol, for this observation. It was the red color that drew me to the image. Without the red, it is just a picture of an old building and some hills. As you say, and as I note in my title, this image is all about the human value of survival.
Carol E Sandgren25-Mar-2007 19:36
The color of the building indeed indicates survival. Bright red, yet unfaded among the desert environment that screams "I'm still here!"
Phil Douglis18-Mar-2007 18:28
You grasp the symbolic role of that lone building, Jenene -- it is the last survivor.
JSWaters18-Mar-2007 03:17
The shadow of Leadfield's history is once again about to press down on the sole sentinel left waving her historical banner. 300 people scattered with the winds, and still this plucky little shack stands watch.
Jenene
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