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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Four: Opposing diagonals – composing with triangles > Fresh fish, Vinh Long, Vietnam, 2008
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03-JAN-2008

Fresh fish, Vinh Long, Vietnam, 2008

They are nothing more than eight dead fish on a tray in Vinh Long’s bustling market, but by the time I had finished with them, they soar upwards as if they were an offering to the gods. I built a horizontal base by cutting the fish in half with the bottom edge of the frame, and then allowed their diagonal arrangement to merge into a triangle. The triangle was originally upside down, so I rotated the image, making the bottom of the picture, which originally featured the curving edge of the tray, become an arc at the top of the image, drawing the triangle of fish upwards toward its curve. A second triangle appears inside the first – within the negative space at the heart of the display.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/250s f/5.6 at 13.7mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis26-Feb-2008 20:43
You show us here how differently people can read symbols, Tim. I did not intend this photograph as a religious statement but I do see a somewhat spiritual aspect to it. The group of fish seems to symbolically swim upwards towards an all encompassing arc, even in death, creating a mysterious triangle in the process. Thanks for triggering this line of thought.
Tim May26-Feb-2008 17:34
There is a symbolism here that my son's ex-father-in-law might resonate with although I am quite sure was not in the mind of the photographer. It is of the Trinity surrounded by the fish - a symbol of Christ.
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