photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Nine: Creating an echo with rhythm and pattern > Rigging a lamp, Pingyao, China, 2007
previous | next
13-SEP-2007

Rigging a lamp, Pingyao, China, 2007

With a nail in his mouth, this electrician is poised to install the first of a number of hanging lamps outside a Pingyao restaurant. (He probably serves its meals as well, and perhaps even cooks them. The operative word in a small, remote city such as Pingyao is versatility.) A series of horizontal rhythms is stacked from the top to the near bottom of this photograph. A double row of sockets and decorative embellishments offers rhythmic repetition that carries the eye across the top of the image. The electrician’s hands break the rhythm at the center, calling attention to his task. The arms of the electrician complete an arch that links with the electrical wire. The circular lampshade repeats the shape of the circular embellishments above it. And the characters spelling out the name of the restaurant rhythmically flow across the lower half of the image. All of this offers counterpoint to the expression on the face of the electrician.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/250s f/5.6 at 44.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Phil Douglis15-Oct-2007 22:57
Thanks, Tim, for taking this image into the realm of story-telling for us. Yes, it could also be in my story telling gallery, because it spurs our imaginations to see the interplay between past and present, just as yours has. I placed it here in my gallery on rhythm and pattern because that is what makes the story flow through the frame. Yes, I can see a tale of past and present being told through the interplay of electric lamps and ancient embellishments and language. And I also agree with you about the left hand. It not only breaks the rhythm to stress the task, but it also repeats the feeling of accomplishment expressed on his face.
Tim May15-Oct-2007 18:40
I think this image could also be in the "stories" gallery. Several things happen to me from this image - one is wondering how he is going to manage to hold on the the lamp and hammer at the same time. Another is the interplay between the revered past - the city is a world heritage site - with the embellishments as representations of that past and the fact that a nail is about to be hammered into that "past" to hang an electrical light - defiling the past for the practical needs of the present. Finally the gesture of the hand so humanizes this image for me - his left hand seems to express the almost delight on his face.
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment