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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Six: Adding or subtracting context to clarify or extend meaning > Multnomah Falls, Portland, Oregon, 2006
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13-JUN-2006

Multnomah Falls, Portland, Oregon, 2006

Multnomah Falls, just outside Portland in the Columbia River Gorge, plunges 611 feet, making it the most visited site in Oregon. A young woman viewing the falls from Benson Bridge spontaneously strikes a joyful pose for the many photographers gathered below. She made my day. I was originally shooting the scene with the falls as my subject. But when she appeared, she turned the tables, making her incongruously flamboyant gesture the subject, and pushing the falls into the role of a spectacular context. When I look at the earlier pictures I had made of the falls, they look lonely and descriptive. They lacked what this image gives us – scale incongruity and a touch of spontaneous, teen-age whimsy. And that is why she becomes the subject, and turns the falls into context.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/125s f/3.6 at 14.3mm iso200 full exif

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Phil Douglis05-Jul-2006 06:27
Yes -- nature ultimately holds the upper hand, and this image reminds us of that fact.
monique jansen05-Jul-2006 05:45
Another image that conveys the minuteness of humans on the scale of the planet. We enjoy it, we use it but ultimately, the planet and its nature willl rule over us.
Phil Douglis29-Jun-2006 00:39
An awestruck, spiritual connection is what this image is all about, Iris. Thanks for noting this. You are right -- without this woman and that gesture, it's just another nice waterfall shot.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)28-Jun-2006 21:47
How many times have we stood in awe of nature with arms outstretched like this woman? I know I feel this spiritual connection with the wonders of nature and love how you captured that feeling in this image. You have taken what could have been just another waterfall picture and elevated it by showing a reverence for the beauty and power of nature.
Phil Douglis19-Jun-2006 18:20
Thanks, Tim, for noting how the presence of the woman and her gesture moves this image of a waterfall beyond the descriptive and makes it express how your heart feels when you look at nature. You say here that the "subject is a waterfall" but actually it becomes the context for me. The waterfall started out as my subject, but when the woman appeared on the bridge and began her spontaneous gesture, everything changed. She became my subject, and the vast waterfall, spectacular as it may be, became the context that added meaning to her gesture.
Tim May19-Jun-2006 16:25
As I try to apply your elements of expressive photography for myself I try to figure out how to make the beautiful sing - to make it move beyond the descriptive - what a wonderful image this is - because the pose captures my how my heart feels when I look at nature. I especially love this image because the subject is a waterfall - something I love yet find hard to express in images.
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