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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Seven: Expressions of Faith > Islamic dreamer, Old Delhi, India, 2008
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18-MAR-2008

Islamic dreamer, Old Delhi, India, 2008

The marble floors of the Jama Mosque make a hard bed, but Islamic faithful have been praying and sleeping on them for more than 650 years. Its billowing etched design suggests the gates of heaven itself. I used a 28mm wideangle lens and an overhead vantage point to link the body language of the prostrate man to the etching on the marble floor.

Leica D-Lux 3
1/40s f/2.8 at 6.3mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis02-Aug-2008 19:15
Thanks, Charu - your own image was made just a few feet from where I made this one. The figure of the sleeping man in my image fits the flow of the decoration on the marble floor, while in your image, the illuminated portal to the mosque itself becomes the symbolic gate to heavenly dreams.
Guest 02-Aug-2008 04:42
this is an image that I think captures the essence of this place - and in fact, the whole gallery perfectly - what I had said in another comment abut people finding their own space... this is what I found most fascinating on my trips to Jama Masjid - you might like to see this image -http://www.pbase.com/charukesi/image/100862802
Phil Douglis23-Apr-2008 17:28
I wanted him to float within the frame, just as he seems to float among the stylized clouds on the marble floor. So yes, I did not fill the frame with his body. I backed away, using a wideangle lens, and gave him the space he needed to drift on his dreams. The light plays a role as well -- as I mentioned to Rusty, he seems to be moving from the darkness at the upper right hand corner into the light as he dreams. He is, as you know, isolated, alone in sllence. (Even though hundreds of people were walking past him.)
Guest 23-Apr-2008 01:13
I had to come back to this photo. I am not sure what draws me to it. Perhaps it is the light or may be it is the outstretched hand. The placement of the body in the upper third of the picture adds...but I am not sure why. Isolation perhaps?
Phil Douglis21-Apr-2008 19:35
I thought of you when I made this shot, Rusty -- I know how you value the expression of meaning through light in photography. And light is at the basis of this image. He moves from the darkness into the light as he dreams. And much of faith is related to enlightenment.
russellt21-Apr-2008 11:34
beautiful light on your subject, beautifully seen, composed, exposed.
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