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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Five: Stimulating the imagination with “opposites and contradictions” > Transition, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia, 2005
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07-SEP-2005

Transition, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia, 2005

A huge tree, torn from its mooring, meets its end in the clear waters of Plitvice Lakes National Park while younger trees already begin to vie for the space it once occupied. It’s simply nature at work, but in a context of striking opposites and contradictions. We have life vs. death, the large playing against the small, the horizontal compared to the vertical, colorful opposing colorless, while the earth itself still clings tenaciously to the base of the fallen tree, even though it's dead. And finally the ultimate contradiction: that chunk of earth now cast adrift has become a massive living garden in itself!

Canon PowerShot G6
1/200s f/4.0 at 11.2mm full exif

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Phil Douglis11-Oct-2006 19:01
Thanks, Surresh, for your observation. If this image makes us think such thoughts as yours, it is doing what I had hoped.
Phil Douglis10-Aug-2006 16:06
Thanks, Mary, for leaving this thoughtful comment. I intended this image to comment on the cycle of life and death. The two are inextricably linked. All living things begin to die as soon as they are born. This image stresses life through those greens. Black and white would tilt the image towards death. I agree -- both forms would make strong statements. But since my galleries teach expressive travel photography, a medium that relies heavily on color itself to tell its stories, I opted to use color here.

I appreciate the time and energy you put into this comment, Mary. Substantive comments like yours require careful thought -- and yes, emotional energy, too. As you know, I welcome comments that make us think. And yours does just that. I hope you will come back again. Thanks.
Phil Douglis23-Jul-2006 16:58
Thanks, Ceci, for calling this a dreamscape. That's how I saw it, too. And I also saw the balance between the submersed tree on the left and the young tree already moving into its space at the right. Both you and Tim see the importance of the water as well -- what once nourished this tree now consumes it, inviting us to enter its embrace as well. I made this image nearly a year ago, and while more than 400 people have viewed it, only you and Tim have stopped and thought long enough to leave your impressions with me. For that I am grateful -- I consider this to be one of the more expressive landscapes in this cyberbook.
Guest 23-Jul-2006 04:43
Another dreamscape from your lens, full of mystery, depth and great beauty. The water beckons in its great clarity, supporting this fallen tree in a way that is both a submersion and a feeling of looking upwards into a slightly misty forest. It becomes multi-dimensional, with the perfectly balancing silhouette on the right, and the either resting or standing tree under the surface. The colors are totally entrancing, making me want to find this spot and fling myself bodily into this lake -- which is probably very cold. This is one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. Thank you for seeing it, Phil.
Phil Douglis08-Oct-2005 00:31
Your comment moves me to re-title this image, Tim. Thank you for pointing out the ultimate message here -- in nature, there is often life within death.
Tim May05-Oct-2005 18:00
So often you and I photograph the transitions, the metaphors of life and death. This one is so powerful. Water pervades this image. Water is the blood of life in the natural world and yet it leads to the death of this tree. Yet this tree supports more life. While many of our images deal with the pain of death - this one radiates the life in death.
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