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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Five: Using the frame to define ideas > Storefront, Florianopolis, Brazil, 2002
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26-DEC-2002

Storefront, Florianopolis, Brazil, 2002

I was originally attracted to this facade because of its brilliant colors and the effect of mid-day light. But I needed to somehow bring it to life if the picture was to communicate. I use a technique I call "stage-setting" to energize the shot. My camera's frame becomes a stage. The colorful store is the backdrop. All I needed were people to walk on stage to spontaneously create my play. I framed the building and waited for passing pedestrians to enter stage left. As they passed the first window, I made this picture -- a couple with perfectly matching strides marching past a row of shuttered windows. It is siesta time in Brazil, and everything shuts down. Our couple does not even notice the storefront -- they are intent on getting where they are going. They are oblivious to the brilliant colors, the long shadows, the white arches, and the lantern over their heads. What they take for granted, we see with fresh eyes. And all because of how I framed it.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/640s f/4.5 at 16.8mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis07-Mar-2006 03:50
Lyn and Michelle -- thanks for your comments on this photograph. When visiting a culture like Brazil (or any Latin Ameican country) the bright colors dominate your vision. I knew I wanted to make a picture featuring this aspect of Brazil and looked for a subject featuring contrasting primary colors. This red and blue building made a perfect "stage" upon which to base my "play." All I needed were the "actors" and they soon materialized.
Lyn Schear 07-Mar-2006 02:29
Well, I have to say this is a fantastic way to portray Brazil's culture bright and bold I love it!
Michelle 07-Mar-2006 02:24
I like the bright colors, it draws a looker in.
Phil Douglis20-Oct-2005 18:17
Tilted images are a problem for all of us, but most of them can be corrected in Photoshop. This one could not. I cropped the image tightly in the frame. If I had to do this over again, I would have left more room at the bottom of the image, and then cropped a bit to straighten the picture. However the slight tilt is does not seem to affect the response to this image from my students. They have learned a lot from it, and that is my purpose.
Denny Crane 20-Oct-2005 09:45
I agree there are problems with positioning the couple to the left or center. They are more or less in the right place (I would have liked them slightly more to the right for balance). It's the unfortunate flatness of her arm and leg color that needs fixing, and prompted me to move them against contrasting colors. But you're right about the positioning of them, if color were not a weakness. Too bad she wasn't wearing a white long-sleeved shirt. And the guy's clothes are too bland, where some color would have helped this photo shine.
The tilt should concern everybody viewing this as an example of framing and composition. It's so easy to fix, pre-shooting or fixing in post-processing.My own photos often suffer tilt because of the shape of my eye socket, the camera eyepiece, and glasses when I wear them. The most comfortable way to look through the viewfinder gives a tilt the pictures. So it happens when I'm concentrating on the subject and capturing the moment. Viewing through an LCD on a P&S digital camera is different. I only know from shooting videos using the LCD.
Phil Douglis19-Oct-2005 23:40
There maybe a slight tilt to this image, but that did not concern me, nor did it affect the perception of others who commented on this picture and have learned something about framing from this image. As for the positioning, if they were contained within the first blue area, I feel they would be almost incidental to the image. If they were contained within the second blue area, the sense of movement in this picture would be lost. They would be virtually centered in the picture, and centered images to me are static, and that was not my intention here. I was very happy to seize this moment in light, space, and time. These people do not merge into the background as you claim. They stride confidently into the space between the frames -- the fact that their bodies overlap the white frame is of no consequence as far as I'm concerned.
Denny Crane 19-Oct-2005 19:36
Phil, I believe you missed the composition. First of all, you should have been more careful to shoot with a straight horizon. This shot is all about composition and color. No place for a tilted horizon. The colors offered by the couple complement the background colors, and you caught a decent moment with the couple. But they are in the wrong place. The girl's arm and front leg are almost the same color as the wall, so they almost blend into the background. It'd be better if they were in front of the blue frame. Having them straddle the white frame is an awkward composition. Perhaps the best place for them would be both in front of either the left blue shade or the middle blue shade. I think the ugly grey gate in the right door is unfortunate. At least it should have light on it. Was there a blue third blue one to the left off the scene? These things are out of your control, but I'm just looking at the picture as it is.
Phil Douglis27-Sep-2005 03:39
Thanks, Ron, for the kind words on this picture. There is so much going here at once -- the rich primary colors, the perfect white frames around the doors, the play of shadows upon the structure, and as you point out, the asymmetrical window arrangement. Yet as I noted in my caption, the scene was beautiful in effect but not yet rich in meaning. I needed human values to complete the story here -- a sense of energy, purposefulness, and synchrony. So I set the stage, and photographed a number of people as they walked past the building. I was able to place this couple in the perfect spot at the right instant.
Ronald Gale Johnson26-Sep-2005 20:54
If people continue to debate if photgraphy is art, I'll just lead them to this photo. This image is strikingly beautiful. The composition is just perfect, and the people in the shot not only make everything 'real', but they also give it scale. The asymmetrical window colors really throws everything out of balance, which is great. I'm a symmetry 'nut' but this really works for me. Thanks for sharing. I'm off to find some buildings to photograph!
Phil Douglis17-Aug-2005 17:27
Thanks, Jude, for this wonderfully cogent analysis. I was not really conscious of the matching blue shirt, or the incongruity of the gate vs. the shutters in the windows as I shot this. What I was thinking of was timing and color. As I said above, I created the frame (almost a stage set) for this shot out of colors that to me conveyed the character of this Brazilian city. And then waited for people to walk past these colors. They are blind to them. But we are not. Balance, harmony, incongruity, all play a part within this frame. I thank you for bringing your own vision to it, Jude. You have added a new dimension to this image for me.
Jude Marion17-Aug-2005 05:45
Yes - the colours and comp are trully amazing, but the people make the image human.
I like the complimentary colours ... the symmetry of the three windows, and the incongruity of the gate in the 3rd window ... and the mirroring of the blue shutters in the womans blue blouse. The horizontal white line and lamp with elongated shadow add additional visual interest to the overall.
This is such a beautifully balanced image.
Phil Douglis18-Jul-2005 17:16
You are right, Christine. What you did in your shot was what I did in this one: anticipate. It comes with experience and observation -- the more you shoot, the more you come to know in your gut what might happen before it happens. And very often, it does.
Guest 14-Jul-2005 02:15
Mr. Douglis,
This is a strong picture you have here. I like it.
I find it interesting that the idea of the luck of the photographer was brought up by one of the photographers who reacted to it below. I believe in the occasional lucky shot, but I also think that one must be able to have an idea of the possible outcome. One example is a picture I took at a winter event here in Toronto http://www.pbase.com/eb2005/image/39198317). I could see that some kind of contact was going to happen between the child and the dog and I prepared myself. I missed the “kiss”, but the picture is no less attractive for that. It was interesting to see how people first reacted to this picture, some seeing it as a dangerous encounter, others as a cute, gentle one. I decided to add the text explaining that these two were attracted to each other. And, of course, I got the child’s mother’s permission to use the picture.
Christine
Phil Douglis27-Mar-2005 19:18
Thanks, Benchang for this comment. Calling this picture "less illustrative" is a huge compliment to me. An illustration is a picture that accompanies text. It is usually subordinate to the words. It shows us what the writer is talking about. But an illustration rarely, if ever, is intended to expresses meaning on its own.

On the other hand, I make my images not to illustrate my cyberbook principles, but rather to define them. I consider my words and my images as equals. Rather than show my viewers what my words mean, my pictures are intended to express ideas on their own, and I use words to explain why.

I am glad you are learning more about your own photography from my cyberbook, Benchang. If I can help you see where you succeeded in expressing ideas, and where you did not, and why, I will be delighted.
Benchang Tang 27-Mar-2005 08:41
Simple and outstanding pattern and colour! An eye-catching picture. With no sign of the shop name, it is less illustrative but more powerful.
With your pictures I know more about photography, and somtime I go back to my pictures and try to understand something I did but hadn't known why I did that. Thank you.
Phil Douglis12-Nov-2004 03:23
I did not plan the colors of the clothing, Larry. Stopping them at the right moment in their stride and in the right spot in relation to that building was the biggest challenge, since I was using a G2, older technology with greater "shutter lag." I chose this building because of how the light was falling on it and the colors. Blue is a primary color, and orange is a variation of red, another primary color.
Guest 12-Nov-2004 03:11
The blue of the woman's shirt and the orange-brown of the man's pants perfectly compliment the colors of the building. Another great photo and another inspiration for me to get out there and keep shooting until I get it right!
Tom Tom18-Jun-2004 07:43
Excellent colour and composition. Here's my vote + added you to my favourites. Thanks!
Guest 17-Jun-2004 00:35
Everything about this photo is beautiful. And thank you for your description of the staging. I used to think that the best photographers were also the luckiest! But thought and preparation is all part of it, as I'm beginning to learn.
Phil Douglis05-Nov-2003 22:04
Thanks, Bart, for the praise. Coming from you, a photographer who is a master of stirring the soul with color, the comment is even more satisfying.
Phil
Guest 05-Nov-2003 22:00
Fabulous composition and use of color, Phil. Stirs the photographic soul!
Phil Douglis16-Oct-2003 20:45
Carol -- if you ever get a chance, go to Brazil, a culture that truly appreciates vibrant, brilliant colors such as these. Your kind of place! I originally thought of using a shot here of this same building with a few more people walking past it, but this picture was so simple and clean that it was the best choice.
Phil
Carol E Sandgren16-Oct-2003 01:18
Hi Phil, I guess you know this is my kind of shot. Big bold bright shapes with a simple composition and story. Carol
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