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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Four: The Workplace -- essence of a culture > Water Carrier, Salavan Province, Laos, 2005
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Water Carrier, Salavan Province, Laos, 2005

Water is often laboriously carried in plastic containers balanced at both ends of a pole in the remote rural villages of Laos. Village houses have thatched roofs, and are usually built with ample space below them for cooking and sheltering hogs and chickens. All of which involves hard work. I don’t show the face of this woman, but her sarong tells us something about her culture, the arm raised to her head says a bit about how she feels, and the large house just around the curve well might be her own. In the rural villages of Laos, work is life and life is work. It is difficult to separate the two.


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Phil Douglis11-Jan-2007 05:01
Thanks, Gil. It was premeditated, for a couple of minutes at least. I saw the background first -- the house on stllts, the trees, the slow curve of the road. Then I turned around and saw this woman coming up behind. She was a block or two away when I first noticed her vividly colored purple shirt and green bottles. I waited for her to step into my pre-arranged environment. The only luck here is the hand raised to the head. It just happened as I was photographing her.
Gil Hidalgo11-Jan-2007 03:30
I see this image as a time machine. A window to the past. If it was not for a few modern articles, this image could be presented as a picture taken 30, 40 or 50 years ago. The light and composition would suggest that the image was painted or color managed to harmonize. The best way I could explain my interpretation of this image is that it could be easily sold as a premeditated work of art with each subject perfectly positioned.
Very peaceful image.
Phil Douglis02-Jul-2005 18:52
Thanks for this comment, Bob. I am trying to tell a story with this image that will stimulate your own thoughts and imagination. You grasp the story and then build on it, which is exactly what I intended.
Bob White02-Jul-2005 10:00
Another fine shot, which tells a big story, the poverty the hard work the hand on the Womens head speaks volumes Ahh not far now, the load she is carrying it really does not need a facial expression and the way the road curves out of the Picture perhaps it is the next kouse The House on Stilts Tells me there maybe a risk of flooding.
This truly does portray the hard life these people have to live.
Bob
Phil Douglis16-Mar-2005 19:49
Catriona, thank you for this lucid comment. This is one of my favorite images from my recent trip because of the story it tells. I am surprised that yours is the very first substantive comment -- I thought it worthy of greater response. I am thrilled that you see in it what I felt as I made it. I set the stage for it by deliberately choosing this vantage point -- embracing a curving road and a house up on stilts, yet obscuring all the barnyard clutter that dominated this village. I waited for people to walk into my vertical frame, and shot a number of them as they did so. This woman worked out the best because of that arm raised to her head. It speaks of physical effort -- and yes, she does look as if she has a long uphill struggle ahead. Not just this trip, either - but her whole life will be fraught with hard labor. This image is all about work, Catriona, and as you say, that work is hard and unremitting. The winding road and the distant house add context, but it is that scale incongruity you mentioned -- the small woman with the bent pole and the full bottles thrown against the soft and subtle colors of the land and house -- that really expresses the meaning of this image.
Guest 16-Mar-2005 12:48
Phil, this is a great picture. I have looked at it long and hard and have learned much from it. The way you have taken the photo in portrait orientation rather than landscape, the curve of the road to the right, the off-center position of the woman on the left, and her pose all combine to give the impression that this woman has a long uphill struggle ahead of her. The branches in the top left not only provide part of a forground frame but they also help to add depth to the image, adding to the distance the woman has walked and has still to walk. The viewer's attention is drawn to the woman who stands out against the subtle colours of the landscape. She looks small against the landscape, her pole is bent, those bottles look full, and her work looks hard!

I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Laos although I have visited many Asian countries. Many of the villages I have seen are crowded with children, dogs, pigs and chickens! If they wre here in this village, you have chosen not to include them in this photo for a reason. This photo tells a beautiful story of life, culture and work - looks like a great place to visit!
Phil Douglis28-Feb-2005 03:38
Dandan, I always am moved when anyone suggests that my images suggest a painting. That's because a painting is purely the work of the imagination. A photograph is primarily a work of reality, but I struggle to render mine in such a way so as to arouse the imagination of my viewers. To say this image appears as imaginative as a painting to you, is to tell me that it has also taken hold of your own imagination, and that's all I can ask. Thank you.
Guest 27-Feb-2005 14:38
This one is so dreamingly, like a painting to me…
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