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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Four: The Workplace -- essence of a culture > Candymaker, Pakse, Laos, 2005
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30-JAN-2005

Candymaker, Pakse, Laos, 2005

This woman works on a sugarcane farm near Pakse. She is making molds for candies produced from the sugarcane she grows, harvests, and cooks. I call this a working portrait – my subject is well aware of my presence. In fact, I showed her many of my images as I made them, and she was quite pleased to see herself pictured in this manner. Yet she is also working. She was wiring candy molds together as I photographed her. Our visit to this farm was quite brief – probably about 15 minutes or so. I choose her as my subject because of her animation and degree of activity. She moved from cooking sugar to making molds to taking care of her baby, showing many different aspects and degrees of working activity. My photographic approach to this woman reminded of me of my own youth, when I worked as corporate photojournalist at a large insurance company. I would follow an executive over the course of a morning with my camera, trying to express on film how he approached his work. I found myself doing the same thing here, within a smaller time frame, and with a Laotian candy-maker instead of a New York insurance executive. And now I use only digital cameras, which allow me to know exactly what I’ve been able to express, and share the results with the subject herself.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20
1/125s f/3.3 at 22.1mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Anna Yu14-Aug-2005 06:01
It is one of the qualities I admire most in people, whatever their task, to be able to do it so well that they don't need to concentrate at all. The fingers are so well trained that the mind can think of other things. Then her diagonal body filling the whole frame is compelling too, with just enough detail for the viewer to see her environment.

Well OK, I can't resist one small request, that pole growing out of her head is kinda disturbing :)
Phil Douglis13-Aug-2005 22:55
I had a long discussion below with Jen about this image, and as you can see, I finally opened her eyes to its merits as an expressive photograph. It is indeed an incongruity to do two things at once and do them with ease. Jen just took the subject at its face value and did not look deeply enough into it at first. I am glad you noticed how I interpret her proficiency here and you no doubt also respect the subtle nature of her responsiveness. This is a working portrait that reveals the person behind the task. Thanks for understanding what I was trying to say with it, Anna.
Anna Yu13-Aug-2005 21:46
She is the proficient worker ("pro") who knows her tools so well that she can work without looking at her hands.
Phil Douglis25-Jun-2005 16:51
That's what these galleries are for, Jen. Thanks for learning with me.
Phil
Jennifer Zhou25-Jun-2005 06:42
I think I understand your point! You broaden my view on expressive photography! Thanks Phil!!
Phil Douglis24-Jun-2005 17:34
Thanks, Jen, for taking another look at this image and considering the points I have raised in my response to your original criticism of it. I am glad you see it in a new light now. As for her response, it is not a strong one. Rather, it is a soft, gentle response, indicative of her character. She is able to turn away from her work and listen to what someone was discussing with her, while at the same time continuing to work on the molds with her nimble fingers. As visual story tellers, it is important that we interpret people's characters through a range of responses, not only strong emotions. There is enough here of interest to stimulate the imagination of the viewer, and allow them to come their own conclusions about this woman. Expressive photography, Jen, is not a matter of extremes. There are many subtleties that express ideas as well, and that is what I was working on here. I hope this answers your thoughtful question.
Jennifer Zhou24-Jun-2005 16:22
Phil, thank you for helping me understand this picture. I guess I expect to see too much from it, and didn't realize the caption is to provide the context that we need to know in order to understand the picture better instead of repeating the picture, you taught me this before, but without practice and review these days, I forgot it....:( But I am sure I will keep that in mind from now on.. And for her looking away and the sticks, your explaination is totally valid, they are part of your story and I totally miss them..

I have one more question though, this picture does have some meanings in it, but it doesn't have a very strong emotion like many of your other pictures that instantly grab viewers attentions and connect with them in a very strong way. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Phil Douglis24-Jun-2005 05:45

This is a working portrait, Jen. It was never intended to express all the ideas I mention in the caption. That caption info provides context for this portrait, and thereby broadens its meaning. Once again, I must stress the point that my captions do not repeat what we see in the picture, and the picture should not be expected to visually represent everything that is in the caption. Words and images should work together, but should not be redundant.To ask this image to provide visual information on how she takes of her baby, for example, is asking for another kind of image entirely. What this image does well is to express her competency through her calm demeanor and her busy fingers. The molds she works with here are all the visual context necessary to symbolize her work and support her competent expression. She does not have to look right at the camera -- the fact that she looks away at the same time she is working tells us something about her multi-tasking abilities. Those background sticks you don't like are critical context as well. They represent the primitive nature of her working environment. She works on a farm, not in a factory. This is a journalistic image as well as a working portrait. It tells a story, and does so by leaving room for the imagination of the viewer to work. If we tried to show all of the other aspects of her work that I mentioned in the caption, the image would not involve as much imagination.

Hope this helps you rethink your strong criticism of this image, Jen. Perhaps you can now examine what I have done here in a new light. If so, what lessons can you learn from this picture?
Jennifer Zhou24-Jun-2005 02:34
I am not sure if I like this picture Phil. It's a picture of a working woman, but it doesn't show as you metioned in the caption: many different aspects and degrees of working activity.. We don't know he was cooking sugar before making molds, and we don't know all the works she does is to take care of her baby...The picture has no imformation about that. And she is looking at somewhere else which as I see doesn't help the topic----a working portrait. And I don't like the stocks at the background either...Sorry for being so tough on the picture Phil, but I am sure you have something to say about it! :)
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