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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty One: The Marketplace -- crossroads of a community. > Jewelry shopper, Beijing, China, 2006
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15-MAR-2006

Jewelry shopper, Beijing, China, 2006

A uniformed attendant helps a shopper sort through a pile of boxes as she searches for a perfect ring. I cropped the image at the bottom to only suggest the pile of boxes, implying that there are even more than meets the eye. I used a 200mm focal length, shooting into the shop from the street. The look on the shoppers face reflects a significant human value: doubt. Is this the ring for her? Or was the one she tried on ten minutes before? She was there when I arrived and still there when I left, so I don’t know if she ever did find the perfect ring. If this image asks similar questions of the viewer, it will be successful as expression.

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1/25s f/3.6 at 40.9mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis21-Apr-2006 23:08
Confusion is a human value and so is doubt. I seize on them both here, Celia.
Cecilia Lim21-Apr-2006 20:03
A wonderful juxtaposition of facial expressions to tell an amusing story. One is focused and determined. The other - uncertain,wandering, searching. Consumers are often confused by the amount of choices they have these days!
Phil Douglis20-Apr-2006 05:26
Thank you, Carol, for stopping at this one. I agree -- she is probably still looking for the right ring. The reason I shot this scene for as long as I did was that the expressions of the customer and the sales person were wonderful. The woman appeared to be a passionate shopper, while the saleslady was gracious and patient. This is one of those shots that is almost photojournalistic in nature. It tells a story.
Carol E Sandgren20-Apr-2006 03:25
Her gaze away suggests to me that she is still looking. Perhaps a vendor adjacent has a better deal or the perfect ring, but the fact that she stuck around so long makes me think that she was intent to buy something anyway. I like the different expressions on each of the women's faces...one of doubt and the other busily trying to please her potential client. ..you can really tell what's going on here.
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