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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eight: Light and shadow shape meaning > Morning pho, Sadec, Vietnam, 2008
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04-JAN-2008

Morning pho, Sadec, Vietnam, 2008

Pho (pronounced "fuh") is a delicious broth, filled with noodles, beef, chicken, or pork. It is a meal in itself and is often devoured as a breakfast by Vietnamese. This woman not only is enjoying the soup -- she also has a large cup of steamed coffee on hand. It was the dramatic “Rembrandt” lighting that drew me to this scene. I shot this picture through the open front of a small café. A window off to the side and behind the woman illuminates her cheek, fingers, chopsticks, coffee pot, and the incongruous stream of noodles that she was slowly ingesting. There is just enough reflection from this light for us to also see her intent expression within the shadows. The right hand side of the image is filled with the shadowed back of a dining companion, who sits across the table from her. He, too, fades to black as food for the imagination.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/250s f/4.5 at 88.8mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis11-Jun-2008 20:46
Sculpted is a perfect word for this light, Jenene. In this case, light does indeed shape meaning. It gives form and dimension to the face, while at the same time, the shadows abstract it. It is this interplay -- the push and the pull of light and shadow -- that energizes this image and concentrates our attention on the flow of both the face and the food.
JSWaters11-Jun-2008 05:00
I love how this wonderful light sculpts the woman and adds so much dimension to her while retaining abstraction around and next to her.
Jenene
Phil Douglis20-Jan-2008 22:29
Yes, Vera -- the act of eating is, in itself an intimate act. We are fueling our bodies, and in this case, that fuel rests half in and half out of the mouth. The light was perfect. As I said in the caption, it is the kind of light Rembrandt immortalized in his paintings. By using the spot metering mode, I can paint with that light, getting just the exposure I want. Thank you for nominating this image for an award -- you are very kind to say that. I don't make my images, however, to win awards. I make them to express ideas to others, and to encourage other photographers, such as yourself, make use of these concepts in their own work. You will find such light early in the morning and late in the afternoon, when the colors are warm and the angle is low, and the light is channeled through an opening of some kind, in this case, a window.
Guest 20-Jan-2008 19:17
What an intimate look at this woman. The lighting is amazing. There is just enough of her face to see her expression. I imagine her savoring your Pho. I think this is an award winning shot!
Vera
Phil Douglis19-Jan-2008 21:04
The lighting is very similar to your shot, Mo. And yes, it is spot metering that makes such light possible. Unless we use a spot meter, the blacks would turn gray and the highlights might burn out.
monique jansen19-Jan-2008 10:18
This reminds me of an image I took in Tibet in 2007:http://www.pbase.com/trevvelbug/image/88233485 because you also catch the light at the crucial part of the image, no doubt by spot metering.
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