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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Ducal Palace, Guimaraes, Portugal, 2004
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03-SEP-2004

Ducal Palace, Guimaraes, Portugal, 2004

The Palace of the Dukes of Braganca was built in 1420. It is the most impressive historical building in the town of Guimaraes, near Oporto in Northern Portugal. Its most prominent features are these towering circular brick chimneys, once used to vent the many fireplaces in this huge, fortress-like building. The best way to emphasize this array of towering chimneys is to abstract the building by shooting only a part of it, and much of that in backlit silhouette. Using a 24mm wideangle converter lens on my Canon G5, I take a low vantage point and shot up into clouds. I use my spot meter to expose for the white clouds. The sky becomes a deeper blue, and that part of the palace that is in shadow goes black. This abstraction forces the eye of the viewer to the thrusting chimneys and on up into the clouds. It does not take a great leap of imagination to see the column of clouds in the center of the picture become a column of fireplace smoke, either.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/1250s f/5.6 at 7.2mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis22-Aug-2010 19:13
Thanks, River, for so eloquently describing how you read this image and how it makes you feel. There is no need to articulate WHY you feel as you feel. Just enjoy the feeling.
Guest 22-Aug-2010 14:15
This image invites viewers to spend time to think... Two things have immediately caught my eyes: first, it would be the numbers of chimneys and how they stand and arranged in the photo; second would be the noticeable shift of brightness from left to right... what does that represent? Phil, you have, once again, successfully stopped me from going to other images but staying on this one for a while, to think about it... this picture has generated many different feelings from different directions yet mixed all together... I feel like I want to say something about it but I can't find words to describe those feeling... its very interesting!
Phil Douglis13-Sep-2006 22:33
As I told Larry two years ago, this palace was not only impressive, but oppressive as well. Palaces were built as prisons and fortresses. They convey authority and power to those who have none. And all of that, to some degree at least, is in this image. Thanks for picking up on that, Jenene.
JSWaters13-Sep-2006 19:30
Such a feeling of foreboding in this image. A truly intimidating place, (and isn't that what palaces are all about?) Thank goodness for the escape that blue sky offers, or I would feel hopelessly trapped inside those towering walls.
Jenene
Phil Douglis15-Dec-2004 00:03
This is a point we could never resolve without you making a trip up to Portugal to see what you do with it yourself. And you have a lot better things to do, Mikel. The point I was making, is, of course, entirely theoretical. Every photographer should bring their own insight and vision to bear on a subject, and determine their own goal for the picture and make it accordingly. The chances of two photographers making exactly the same image are slim to none.
Guest 14-Dec-2004 23:27
But there is a problem for that, I wold have to bee there to see it and work it out my way. I think that your rasonment is a very good one and problably I wold have done a similar shot too but on the other hand, perhaps I wold have found more expressive some other one I wold have done, I don't know.
Phil Douglis14-Dec-2004 22:23
Thanks, Mikel. I am glad you feel that this shot conveys your own point of view as well. But that is not, as I said earlier, necessarily good. If we each took a completely different point of view, the world would be a better place for it because viewers would have a chance to visit this castle through two different sets of eyes.
Guest 14-Dec-2004 21:29
great abstraction and shot. It conveys with my point of view luckally it was cloudy though. ;)
Guest 01-Dec-2004 17:15
the idea that comes to me is a menacing power represented by the building/towers.
Phil Douglis09-Nov-2004 19:30
Whenever and wherever I travel, Nut, I want to take you, and anyone else who should view my images, with me. You are right there at my shoulder, sharing what I feel about what I see. And yes, that is why I took this photo in this way. I am not interested in making pictures of places just to show other people what I saw. I want them to feel what it was like to be there, and understand the mood and meaning of a place. That is what I mean by expressive travel photography.
nut 09-Nov-2004 06:55
Yes, because your photo make me feel like I was there. And that's the reason why you took
the photo in this way, right?
Phil Douglis09-Nov-2004 04:43
Nut, a spot meter is a metering mode available in most of the better-made cameras that allows you to measure the intensity of the light on the brightest part of the picture -- its highlight. It exposes that tiny part of the picture perfectly. It prevents what we call "burned out highlights." In this case I exposed this picture for those white clouds, by placing the tiny area covered by my spotmeter (little brackets in the center of my viewfinder) on the cloud itself. It gave me a grayish instead of a white, washed out cloud, and enriched all the rest of the colors in the picture, and deepened the shadows on the building, abstracting it. If I had used "regular" metering, which is also called "matrix" metering, the light meter would have exposed for the entire picture, seeking an average. The clouds would have probably been washed out, the brick would have lighter, and the shadows more gray.

I hope explains it, Nut. As for abstraction, it is the dark buildings. They become mysterious and even threatening because they are so abstract. The stimulate your imagination, don't they?

You say you think you were there? Did you visit Portugal, Nut? Or are you using that phrase to tell me that this picture MAKES you think that you are there?
nut 09-Nov-2004 03:59
What is the spot meter? You like to use this in many photo. Maybe you can explain me more
about this. If I can find an abstract here. I think I was there. Phil, do you have any hint for this?
Phil Douglis30-Oct-2004 22:57
You have every right to be disturbed, Larry. This is not only an impressive building, it is also oppressive. In its way it was a prison in its day, a self contained community, isolated from the real world. It was the seat of great power, but such power always exerted its toll on the poor souls who had to serve under it. And that, too, is part of the idea I am trying to stimulate here with my choice of lens, vantage point and exposure.
Guest 30-Oct-2004 16:06
This image disturbs me. I see it as a view from inside a prison courtyard, and the chimneys towering over the yard remind me of guard towers. But it's not always bad to be disturbed...sometimes it's a good tool to stimulate the thought process.
Phil Douglis29-Oct-2004 21:47
And that is what I intended. I took you, and everyone else who looks at this image, along with me when I visited this place. All of you were sitting there on my shoulder and sharing what I saw, and how I felt about what I saw, with me. And that is what expressive travel photography is all about, Nut.
nut 29-Oct-2004 17:56

I feel like I am there and take a look to the sky with my own eyes.
Phil Douglis29-Sep-2004 04:06
Once you get hooked on spot metering, Bruce, nothing else will do. It's like "painting with light."
Guest 29-Sep-2004 00:32
Again, the spot meter. The "light" bulb is flashing in my head.
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