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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Sixteen: Story-telling street photography > Bus Stop, The Castro, San Francisco, California, 2007
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06-JUN-2007

Bus Stop, The Castro, San Francisco, California, 2007

I photographed this street scene a bus stop on Castro Street. The Castro area became, along with the neighboring Haight Ashbury district, the core of San Francisco's counter-culture in the 1960s. The glass enclosed bus stop acts as a divider here – separating those waiting for a bus from the street life behind them. These two people are unaware of each other’s presence. Separated by a divider, each seems lost in their own world. It is an encounter that never took place.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/500s f/7.1 at 61.1mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time06-Jun-2007 15:58:21
MakeLeica
ModelV-LUX 1
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length61.1 mm
Exposure Time1/500 sec
Aperturef/7.1
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis04-Jul-2011 17:57
Thanks, Carol. You and I have both photographed people on either side of these San Francisco bus shelters (http://www.pbase.com/sveetzel/image/136066170 ), and we have both used the repeating diagonals to a good purpose in our imagery. I am sure that the designers of these shelters intended those diagonal lines to keep people from "walking" into the glass, but in the process of doing so, they also create a wonderfully contrasting dividing line between the sedentary and active worlds.
Phil Douglis21-Jun-2007 19:17
Thanks for this comment, Mo. Without the screen, this becomes a shot of two people, one sitting, the other walking behind. With the screen, they are isolated from each other. The man becomes an abstract symbol of what the seated person may be thinking about. And those diagonal stripes, probably designed to keep people from walking into the glass panels of the bus shelter, are what create the abstraction, and as you note, their repetitive diagonal upward thrusts seem to propel the man forward.
monique jansen21-Jun-2007 08:36
Really like the way you have screened these people from each other. Diagonal lines give the image more power too
Phil Douglis19-Jun-2007 23:45
Thanks, ArJay, for the wonderful comment. I like your take on the red line. It is intended to keep people from falling off the curb, but it does help anchor the image.
Arjayphotography19-Jun-2007 22:55
This is a wonderful image. The diagonal divider serves to emphasize the separation between the two human characters. The inclusion of the strong red line on the gutter adds further strength to the image and props the whole composition up....dark/lite, detail/shadow, it's all here.

One day I hope to take such great images.
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