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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifteen: Making travel portraits that define personality and character. > Berber cook, Ouirgane, Morocco, 2006
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26-DEC-2006

Berber cook, Ouirgane, Morocco, 2006

We had lunch with a rural family in Ouirgane. Our hostess graciously allowed me to make this portrait of her in her country kitchen. I do not give directions to my subject. I let them do whatever comes naturally. After a few minutes of awkward self-conscious posing, she became used to my camera and relaxed. She walked over the fireplace to get warm, folded her hands and patiently waited for me to finish. I pulled my zoom back to its widest focal length, 35mm, to get as much of the environment in as I could. I was working with the light from a single light bulb high overhead. The dim light forced me to shoot this picture hand-held, at 1/5th of a second. However, my camera’s excellent image stabilization system allowed me to obtain the equivalent of a 1/20th of a second exposure. I like the way she spontaneously made a triangle out of her arms. She echoes the triangular shape of the fireplace hood behind her. This image goes beyond description. It tells us what kind of a person she is – competent, patient, and good-natured.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/5s f/2.8 at 7.4mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis23-Aug-2007 05:25
Thanks for noticing the triangular position of the feet, Patricia. Small details can make a big differences. She was a wonderful host, a good cook, and a modest but willing subject.
Patricia Lay-Dorsey23-Aug-2007 02:08
Even her feet are positioned in a triangle! This is a photo I want to walk into and sit down at the table. Such a hospitable feeling this woman exudes. You are fortunate to have experienced her welcoming presence and (I'm sure) delicious food. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Phil Douglis28-Apr-2007 16:04
Yes, Steve -- she looks as if she is part of the place, doesn't she?
Steve Viscot28-Apr-2007 09:23
great portrait. I like the fact that she is portrait in an enviroment that is truly hers. A place were she no doubt spends a lot of her life
Phil Douglis15-Apr-2007 05:51
Thanks, Ben, for your comment. I've composed it as a series of interlocking triangles: her arms are poised in a relaxed triangle while the fireplace hood behind her is triangular in shape. The diagonal patterns in the floor are triangular in nature as well. As Judy notes in the first comment, it is "well ordered space," and that is what composition comes down to -- arranging things within the frame to integrate the image and help it tell its story.
Guest 14-Apr-2007 23:10
beautiful photograph, perfect composition
Phil Douglis05-Feb-2007 20:17
Environmental portraiture is at the heart of travel portraiture, Suwanee --you can say so much about the person, the life they lead, and the culture they live in. Glad you see her life in this image. I did.
Guest 05-Feb-2007 09:09
You reveal the subject's life to us, or to me, with just this one shot. Using a wide angle to frame her and her environment tells a very clear story of who this lady is. Her warm smile and gentle face really makes this shot perfect! Great environmental portrait.
Phil Douglis11-Jan-2007 19:32
Beautifully said, Judy. It is a comfortable place, and she is comfortable within it. And yes, it is familiar too -- and everything has its place. For Morocco, it is not humble. It well beyond many other kitchens we visited there, in terms of its supplies, layout and decoration.
judy sidonie tillinger11-Jan-2007 16:04
all of the moroccan portraits move me, this one perhaps most of all.
The revelation is in the comfort and familiarity, despite its foreignness, of this
humble, well ordered space.
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