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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifteen: Making travel portraits that define personality and character. > Produce man, Fez, Morocco, 2006
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16-DEC-2006

Produce man, Fez, Morocco, 2006

The produce man tests his product in the souks of Fez. Except for the key hanging from his neck, this portrait could have been 100 years ago. I cherish the rich coloration of this image – it is warm, rich, and timeless. He grips his greens in one hand, and tastes them with the other. I assume he is checking their freshness. This portrait expresses a sense of duty – he seems intense, experienced, and efficient. I like the way the curve of greens in his lap and hand echo the curve of rusted metal next to him. It is very typical of the souks of Fez – ancient, chaotic, jumbled, and often, to western eyes at least, surprising.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/200s f/4.0 at 49.4mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis01-Nov-2007 00:26
Thanks, Suwanee, for visiting this portrait. I suggested that you look at it because it is so much like the portrait you made in Bali athttp://www.pbase.com/suwanee/image/88121108 As you point out, both of these images involve subjects that are totally involved in their work, and are similar in their color effects. Both work with green plants, both wear turbins, both look down, and both work with hands and mouths. And yes, your image does a wonderful job of telling the story of a person's work and life.
Guest 31-Oct-2007 23:19
Oh yes indeed! Wow, so similar in so many ways even the hands, mouth, and the feeling of them being deep into what they are doing and completely unaware of you as a photographer. Thank you for showing this image Phil, I am very happy to know that I have created an expressive image that has meaning.
Phil Douglis28-Jan-2007 03:06
Thanks for picking up on the symbolic role of that key on his neck, Tim. Along with being the metaphorical key to the past or the future, it is also the only reference to contemporary life in the image. Everything else here is timeless. Except for that key.
Phil Douglis28-Jan-2007 01:48
You are right about that, Philippe -- an expressive photograph is, in many ways, a mirror that can tell us as much about ourselves as the subject. I am glad this image has triggered these thoughts. That is a wonderful test of a expressive portrait: it should go beyond defining only the the subject -- it should also help you to define yourself.
Tim May27-Jan-2007 19:04
The key is what draws my eye - what is it to - it is so shiny in a muted array of color - is it the key to his future - the key to his past ?
pep27-Jan-2007 15:16
"Comfort is a relative conditon" You're absolutely right. I see him with my western eyes, which are not his. But again, were he given the chance, what would he chose? This picture raises a lot of issues (at least to me): there's a yearning for a simpler life, and yet it is inconceivable to leave the comfort of life as we know it.
This picture is wonderful in that it not only documents a man in Morocco, his life style and his expression, it also acts as a mirror which breaks the boundaries of your ordinary life and makes you reconsider many things you firmly believe in.
Phil Douglis26-Jan-2007 22:57
Symbiosis is a good word for this image. He is who he is, he is what he does, he is what you see here. I don't think he is concerned about comfort, either. Comfort is a relative conditon. If he has always lived like this, the concept of a more comfortable life -- as we define comfort -- is probably irrelevant to him. I think that if he no longer could be himself, he would not find life more comforting. Thanks for raising these points, Philippe.
pep26-Jan-2007 21:09
To me, this image shows a man close to nature, un-adultered by artifice, enough to be an integral part of his environement. Symbiosis. But this awareness comes at the cost of confort and riches, as the rusty pieces of metal or his shabby clothes show. I am not making any judgment here; I just wish he - we - were able to chose.
Phil Douglis11-Jan-2007 18:42
And that is often the very point of travel for me, Mo. To go back into time --whether through a ruin or a landscape, or as in this case, a person whose appearance and tasks have not changed that much over the centuries. Travel photography, for me anyway, is often a form of time-travel.
monique jansen11-Jan-2007 11:42
This is a very timeless image indeed
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