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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Two: Travel Incongruities > On St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, Ireland, 2004
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26-AUG-2004

On St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, Ireland, 2004

The oldest and largest of Dublin's spacious "squares" is St. Stephen's Green, which is actually a sprawling inner-city park. Thousands of residents and visitors can vanish into the countryside for a few hours, yet still be only minutes from Dublin's crowded pavements. This woman is the very picture of relaxation. She has removed her shoes, and pulled her sweater up over her face to turn day into night. Yet her knees are raised and legs are crossed, suggesting not sleep, but rest. The incongruity, of course, is the anonymity created by the red sweater. Its color is the focal point of the picture. I positioned her at the bottom of my frame, which creates the bed that St. Stephens Green offers.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/160s f/4.0 at 28.8mm hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time26-Aug-2004 18:17:04
MakeCanon
ModelPowerShot G5
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length28.8 mm
Exposure Time1/160 sec
Aperturef/4
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis28-Apr-2006 01:52
Thanks, Jenene-- the degree of incongruity is a bit greater here because of that sweater pulled up over the face. Your man wears a hat on his face, but the view of the woman's posterior in your image is more amusing. Both images work because what we see or don't see. Thanks so much for this comment.
JSWaters27-Apr-2006 23:52
I had a nice surprise when I found your image a day after taking mine in Balboa Park.http://www.pbase.com/image/59301275. I was so struck by the absolute withdrawal from the immediate surroundings this couple exhibited.
Phil Douglis22-Dec-2004 06:12
Excellent point, Mikel about the nature of vision and how by eliminating her sense of sight, she finds the isolation she is incongruously seeking here in the middle of a great city.
Guest 22-Dec-2004 00:03
The red is almost a complementary of the green that wold be Magenta, that is perhaps for me the strongest part of it, though it is true that in a certain way it is a relaxing image, having her on the under part of the picture gives a higher perspective that without people behind gives a meaning of peace, for the rest, you dicrive it very well in the caption, she could be on her bed listening to some music as for her position denotes and closing her eyes is more then tourning day to night I think, vision is the most used of our senses and to get that isolation she is bloking that sensitive part that as it's time gives more isolation to the person it's self.
Phil Douglis05-Dec-2004 00:20
Hello, Guest. I welcome your comment, and just wanted to tell you that Nut captivates me as well. She is not yet a photographer herself -- she comes to learn and to spontaneously and delightfully share her feelings with us about these images. Her comments are invaluable to be, because they represent the way a general audience comprehends the meaning of pictures, as opposed to the way photographers might look at them.
Guest 04-Dec-2004 15:55
hehe He said Cogent....

Just lurking but that got me for some reason. BTW, Nut has captivated me.
Phil Douglis01-Dec-2004 23:24
Your image is brilliant, Clara -- and so is your cogent analysis. I was concentrating on incongruity of a headless woman, but you also show me how incongruous -- and shocking -- a splash of red can be in a sea of green.
Guest 01-Dec-2004 19:50
to me the incongruity here is about color. I have a similar shoot http://fotolog.net/clarallum/?photo_id=609435)
Phil Douglis07-Nov-2004 23:38
Once again, a picture has stimulated to make your own vision out of it, Nut. I did not have any of these ideas in mind when I took this shot. The fact that she is relaxing in a square called St. Stephen's Green was incidental -- pure context. I made this image as an incongruous reference to anonymity. She hides her face so nobody will know who she is, and she also blocks out the sun so she can sleep. Yet here she is in the middle of a "sprawling" city just beyond those trees. I salute you for taking this image beyond, to think instead of a red sweater in a place called St. Stephen's Green, to think of sprawling as not Dublin, but how she spreads herself upon the grass. You make me glad I made this image and posted it, Nut.
nut 07-Nov-2004 16:09
I read your decription again and again. I think I got mor idea about this photo.
I marked "Squares" then compared with the bed.
I marked "Sprawling" with the way she laid down on this green. It's not the exactly the same
but it mean her location and St. Stephen's Green are in the middle of the frame (City frame and this frame).

She lay down in the middle of this frame as same as the location of St. Stephen's Green,
which sprawl in the middle of Dublin city. Her sweater is in red color but the name of this
place is St. Stephen's Green; Green. Well, it's just my imagination. But I think it's good to see
something and can think more.
Phil Douglis04-Nov-2004 04:01
You are right, Nut. It's the abstract incongruity -- the sweater over the head -- which is the driving force behind this image.
nut 04-Nov-2004 03:25
Simply the best. Be yourself, be simple but clever. I feel relax and feel home here. She turned
this public garden to become her own place. Color incongruity is visible and less important
than abstract incongruity that made me feel in this way.
Phil Douglis11-Oct-2004 00:18
You are right, Rodney, the pictures have a similar feel because of the leg positions. And mine is about ingenuity -- she turns day into night with flip of her sweater.
Guest 10-Oct-2004 21:06
She shows definite ingenuity. It reminds me of my photo:http://www.pbase.com/thewizardrod/image/28308926
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