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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eight: Light and shadow shape meaning > Photo exhibit, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Massachusetts, 2011
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27-JUL-2011

Photo exhibit, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Massachusetts, 2011

Several hundred work-prints by the portrait photographer Annie Liebovitz are currently on exhibition in a barn on the grounds of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. I photographed a small section of the exhibit, wrapping it in the shadows cast by a barn window. Several windows are also reflected in the glass panels protecting the photographs. Liebovitz conceived the exhibition especially for the dance festival to salute the 50th anniversary of the Mark Morris Dance Group. By photographing photographs embraced by light and shadow, I recognize the very nature of the medium itself.

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Phil Douglis29-May-2016 23:28
Photographing photographs is always a challenge, and in this case I recognized that the light stream through those windows had created shadows acting as symbolic picture frames for the prints that photographer Annie Leibovitz has tacked to the wall. As I noted in my caption, I made this image to recognize the very nature of the medium itself. I am delighted that you find the concept a worthy one, Marisa.
Marisa Taddia28-May-2016 22:22
What attracts me to this photograph is not only the game between light and shadow, but the light coming through the window that generates "frames" itself. Actual photographs framed by photographs of light and shadow. Amazing!
Phil Douglis10-Sep-2011 21:44
Thanks, Claudia, for noting the male/female relationship in the arrangement of the images I placed within the shadows. I value your interpretation of the meaning of this image -- it is one of those pictures that can say different things to different people. And that is the way I like it.
BleuEvanescence10-Sep-2011 13:40
I can truly understand "why" this is your favourite shot. It would probably be mine too if i had the difficult chore to choose...only one among the rest of your, i am sure, very fine shots... But this one gives even more "grandeur" to the images and this picture of a woman and a man speaks about the many relationships, the mystery, the intrigues that can exist between a man and a woman. The incrediblew shadow emphasizes the meandres of life... Superb image Phil. I love it.
Phil Douglis15-Aug-2011 17:40
Thanks for coming to this image, Rose. It was interesting how this shot came to be -- we visited the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival as part of a week long cultural immersion in Theatre, Dance, Art, and Music in the Berkshires. Of all these arts, Dance is my least favorite. I was reluctant to even go to Jacob's Pillow, but when I found out that there would be an Annie Liebovitz photo exhibit on the grounds, I changed my mind. While the rest of our group was attending an early evening dance performance in the Festival's outdoor amphitheater, I chose to spend my time in the historic barn housing the photo exhibit. I spent over an hour watching the changing light pass through the barn windows and cast their glow on the photographs. I probably shot over 100 images of the play of light and shadow on not only the walls, but on the visitors as well. This was my favorite shot.
sunlightpix14-Aug-2011 21:30
Ahh, the essence of light and shadow, exquisite!
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