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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Six : Using reflections to transform reality > Garden of time, Columbia, California, 2008
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19-MAY-2008

Garden of time, Columbia, California, 2008

Columbia is a perfectly restored Gold Rush town. In fact, it looks a bit too perfect. Every image I made of its old buildings looked like post card views. To overcome this issue, I searched for ways to abstract the town so that we could look into the past without seeing the present. As I walked Columbia’s streets, I noticed that many of the windows in the restored 19th century buildings were original – the glass produced wavy reflections. I then focused my attention on those wavy reflections until I found one that best characterized the Gold Rush era. This image was the result – an abstracted vision of softly focused and slightly distorted buildings and gardens carrying us back into time itself.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/100s f/4.0 at 34.1mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis21-Jan-2010 15:39
Tranquility is at the heart of this image, Zandra, obtained through here through color and and abstraction.
Guest 30-Dec-2009 21:06
A simple approach/solution to a difficult problem…that is, if you come to think of it! Not only did you manage to abstract the image but you also brought the viewer back in time. I have the feeling I am watching a Monet painting as if I am standing behind the painter himself. Perhaps not the correct era but sometimes those details have little meaning. Left is a feeling of tranquility and a sense of belonging.
Phil Douglis11-Jun-2008 20:41
Thanks, Jenene, for this comment. It does not matter how this image was actually reflected. It could have just as easily been reflected in water as on glass. What matters is the meaning, and you speak here of the golden days of a storied town that seems lost in time. We want the detail to be abstracted, suggested, rather than seen. We want that blur to express, as you say, the passage of time itself. Columbia is both here but not here -- it is a blend of memory and reality. It is history.
JSWaters11-Jun-2008 04:50
This is a wonderful way to glorify the golden days of a storied town. The colors are rich and vibrant - the blur points out the fleeting lifespan of a town connected to the Gold Rush. I mistook it for a reflection in water before reading your caption.
Jenene
Phil Douglis29-May-2008 17:57
Thank you, Carol, for seeing this as a painting. That was what I saw in the old window glass -- a painting of the past. My task was to effectively express it photographically. This abstract image is the result.
Carol E Sandgren29-May-2008 04:07
This could be a fine oil painting! I wouldn't have known it a reflection in old glass. I do love the effect it has, with softly blurring the "past" for us.
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