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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighty-two: A city portrait -- impressions of Havana, Cuba. > Food truck, Havana, Cuba, 2012
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08-MAY-2012

Food truck, Havana, Cuba, 2012

My high rooftop vantage point offered the only possible way to make such an image as this one. I reveal not only the food truck itself, but more importantly, exactly what it contains. A pile of orange carrots seems to explode on the roof of the cab, it’s thrust amplified by the extended arm of the driver, about to pull out into the oncoming traffic. The interior of the truck bed is dominated by piles of green bananas, along with sacks of other vegetables. The white plastic bag in the center of the truck draws the eye into the picture, making the reclining figure of the worker within the shadows just above it appear to us almost as a surprise. He grips the side of the truck with one hand as he stabilizes the other on the food below him. The rusting food truck, manned by a symbolic arm and a man resting on a bed of vegetables, becomes a metaphorical symbol for the vulnerable Cuban economy, surviving through hard labor and making the most of what it has.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2
1/400s f/5.0 at 84.0mm iso160 full exif

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Phil Douglis16-Aug-2015 19:52
Thanks for your suggestion. I currently use pbase.com as my teaching galleries. YouPic is a very popular site, but it is not primarily suited to display by galleries with substantive captions and interactive dialog.
Phil Douglis30-May-2012 17:01
Well said, Celia. This image is all about perspective. The bird's eye view vantage point makes it work. And a bed of vegetables becomes a symbol of an entire economy.
Cecilia Lim29-May-2012 20:23
One man's vegetable is another man's bed! This is a fantastic image. Your bird's eye view makes it so. It offers a wonderfully fresh perspective of life in Cuba.
Phil Douglis27-May-2012 18:02
So much came together for us in this photograph, Carol. This was the only vantage point that could have produced a photograph such as this. It could not have been made from the ground. The arrangement of the carrots is spectacular. The bananas added a sea of green. I made many earlier photos of this man simply sitting on the slatted crate, never thinking he might lie down as the truck left. But that is what happened. The driver's hand is not flicking out a cigarette -- he is signaling to traffic that he is pulling out. That arm adds much to the story, as well. Thanks for your comments.
Carol E Sandgren27-May-2012 04:07
Your caption says it all, but I also like the driver's isolated hand thrust out the window flicking his cigarette, as if he holds very little importance.. The display of produce seem beautifully arranged as if by a painter with the carrots cluster suggesting almost a large flower. What a glorious color explosion too! I love photographs like this.
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