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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Three: Stirring emotions through atmosphere and mood. > Haunted ground, Chinese Camp, California, 2008
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20-MAY-2008

Haunted ground, Chinese Camp, California, 2008

In the 1850’s, a group of Cantonese miners prospected for gold here. Today, no trace of them is left. Only the name of the place speaks of those who once lived and died here. On a hill high over the tiny community, a Catholic graveyard now stands. I photographed it from a distance, juxtaposing towering living trees over the graves of the dead that lie below them. A deep blue sky rising over a bank of white clouds on the horizon gave great beauty to the image, but it was not the mood I wanted. When I converted the image to black and white, the mood changed – the image becomes stark and haunting. The blue sky changes to a gray curtain, descending on the tombs outlined against the distant cloudbank. It was exactly the mood for this image of life and death in juxtaposition.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/800s f/10.0 at 11.4mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis27-May-2008 18:48
I agree, Tim. I will always treasure the morning in Chinese Camp, and this image was the first one I made. It is not an accident that we made so many of our images in cemeteries. The past lives in them with a degree of honesty. There is no commercialism, no attempt to recreate history or capitalize on it. They where the past is buried and gradually forgotten.
Tim May27-May-2008 17:40
Of all the "towns" we visited in the gold country. China Camp was the most unpreserved we saw. This image is evocative of the whole town.
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