photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eight: Light and shadow shape meaning > Tango Mysteries, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004
previous | next
12-JAN-2004

Tango Mysteries, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004

As I began photographing the shadows cast by the neon tubing attached to the side of this Tango Club, a woman walked into my frame and lifted both arms to her head, as if she was dancing the Tango. I pressed the shutter release at that instant, capturing her with her arms frozen on the back of her head, leg bent forward, head down. Is she dancing? Or is she just fixing her hair? We’ll never know. When I later studied the details of this photo on my computer, I was astonished to see that the advertising photograph featured within the sign at right shows the head and arms of another woman in the very same pose. These congruities and incongruities turn a Buenos Aires street shot into a thematic image worthy of close study. Light and shadow combine to give this image its context and intensify its meaning – abstracting the woman by shadowing her face and body, creating a dark stage for her to dance upon, and illuminating a background filled with mysterious detail.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/500s f/4.0 at 21.0mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Phil Douglis30-Mar-2005 22:13
You have found another one of my hidden treasures, Benchang. Glad you liked it as much I enjoyed making it. Some images are immediately evident. pbase is full of those pictures that tell you everything they have say at the first glance. But some images take a bit more work and thought on the part of the viewer. As you've said, this is one of those shots. Everything is indeed in place, but to an unschooled eye, it looks almost casually accidental. You are correct in your analysis. This is an image of point and counterpoint. There is something to e every single object in this photograph. Nothing works by itself. As you say, even the darks and lights, if added up, will come out as a draw.

I am sorry you could not see the close up of a woman's head with her arms over her head in a tango pose within the wire netted window at right. But she is there, Benchang -- an incredible echo to the woman who stalks through the image at mid-frame. Thank you for your remarkable comment. It makes me value this image all the more, even if it has been largely neglected since I posted it over a year ago.
Benchang Tang 30-Mar-2005 13:48
Another of my favorite! To common eyes there is no picture here, but you made it! This is the kind of pictures that at the first look the virtues might not betray themselves. Everything is in place but is not placed, that is the highest achievement for a photographer. The light arena is loosely cased in the shadow with only the top left which might be considered as an outlet for it( I notice this just now from looking at the thumbnail, eyes would be led unconsciously to the center of a picture, kind of vignetting).
Please allow me say a few words about Balace or Counterpoint. As you said there is another girl( I could not find her from the page), the graffette is balanced by the "TANGO" shadow, the wire-netted window couple( two of them)are balanced by three air vents below, trees on both side, a couple of Persian blinds, traffic sign being balanced by the vacation post. Of cause I have to cover the light and shadow, I mean the two, if devided, can almost reach a middle grey in term of density.
A street photo rich with Latin flavour.
Phil Douglis29-Jan-2004 04:15
I love the little story you made about this photograph, one of the most remarkable street photographs I have ever made. I never gave any thought to the activities of this woman herself. I was much too interested in her body language and what it represented to me. She was Argentina: haunting, mysterious, and a bit flamboyant in manner. Just like the Tango itself. Incredibly, her exact arm movements were repeated in the advertising poster she has just passed. I do like your feeling about those shadows as representing the past. I saw them as creating a contrasting stage for this impromptu performance.
Carol E Sandgren29-Jan-2004 03:10
What a beautifully timed shot! Maybe she works there and is just getting off work. Shadows suggest to me the past, a whole night of dancing has ended now and the dancer is finished for the day.
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment