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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eight: Light and shadow shape meaning > Roses in Hand, City Cemetery, Punta Arenas, Chile, 2004
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04-JAN-2004

Roses in Hand, City Cemetery, Punta Arenas, Chile, 2004

A Sunday afternoon visitor had just placed a floral display in the hand of this sculpted angel looming over a tomb surrounded by massive trees that have been pruned into a series of rounded dome-like monuments. The late afternoon sun is illuminating the statue and its roses from the side, turning the pruned trees into shadowy background. By using my spot meter on the angel, I keep it from washing out, and turn the green trees in the background to black. I placed the figure of the angel on the right side of the frame, making it seem to offer those roses towards the darkness. If the angel and its roses commemorate life, the darkness implies that most unknown aspect of life – death. This interpretation is made possible entirely by the interplay of light and shadow on the angel, its flowers, and the trees.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/1250s f/5.6 at 20.7mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis30-Jan-2004 02:13
I never thought of those dome like trees as headstones before. That's because I remember them as they appeared in three dimensions -- rounded trees. You, however, have only seen them in their two dimensional form in this photograph, so headstones they become! That changes completely changes the meaning of the picture into what you call a "continuum of response." Because you picked up the trace of green within those shadows, these trees change from stark abstract symbols of death (headstones), evolving into living trees, and the entire point of the picture changes for you. On the other hand, I always saw them as trees, but so black as to suggest the void of the unknown -- the darkness of death vs the brightness of the angel and its flowers held high. Is it possible that a picture can mean different things to different viewers. Of course -- that's the great power of art in general. Meaning is always in the eye of the beholder. It does not matter what my message was -- what matters is what you make of it, Tim.
Tim May30-Jan-2004 00:37
This continues to also be one of my favorites of your trip. There another aspect of the shadow here that influences my feelings when I view this image. The image creates a continum of response for me. At first glance the trees are headstones, dwarfing the angel in the light and the wonderful red of the roses, making life and light small in comparison to death. Yet, as I continue into the image, the shadows, while still feeling like gravestones, are really trees and this changes the scale of the image, and the influence of death. This journey would have been lost had you lost detail in the shadows.
Phil Douglis29-Jan-2004 02:14
Thank you, Jill, for being the first to comment on this photo, one of the most satisfying images I made on this entire trip. Everything was already there for this photographer/philosopher -- the late afternoon Patagonian light was at the perfect angle, the red roses in the hand made an ideal symbol of life contrasted against the darkness of those trees, symbolizing death. Even the bizarre shapes of the trees give the image an otherwordly-look. All I need to do was the recognize what I had been given here, and then make the most of it. Thanks to a spot meter, which is absolutely critical in digital photography in order to prevent burn-out in white highlights, I was able to produce this photograph.
Jill29-Jan-2004 00:51
Not only a very talented gifted photographer but a philosopher as well. What a eye!
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