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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Eight: Telling stories with pictures > Mysteries, Tozeur, Tunisia, 2008
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11-NOV-2008

Mysteries, Tozeur, Tunisia, 2008

This image began as a picture of man seeking alms, who finds none. (See my image of him at ( http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/106454852 ) Gradually others passed through my frame, and one of them, a woman wearing the traditional black Muslim scarf, came towards me. As she neared, I could see that her face was quite sad. I made this image of her, while the man in the background continued to sit motionless, before a mysterious red gate, waiting for his own world to brighten.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/400s f/8.0 at 28.8mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time11-Nov-2008 07:54:53
MakeLeica
ModelV-LUX 1
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length28.8 mm
Exposure Time1/400 sec
Aperturef/8
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis14-May-2009 18:03
Thanks, Chris -- this image is one of my favorites from the Tunisian trip. I spent a lot time hanging around this street corner. The interplay of light and shadow made a stage set out of it, and the man begging on the corner gave me a perfect background layer. Everything else depended on chance -- who would turn the corner, and which way would they walk? What emotions would they display? This woman who fills my foreground layer was probably just trying to get out of my way, but in her face and hand are evident feelings that tell a story on an emotional level. Some say that street photography is mostly luck, but I disagree. Luck is always the "residue of design" -- we make much of our own luck through thought and work and patience, and that is what happened here. Thanks, Chris, for this comment -- light and emotion are indeed at the core of this image.
Chris Sofopoulos14-May-2009 07:12
All the things in your photos have a reason to be there!
I like the expression of the woman in low light and the man who is siting in the background. I believe that always low light adds to the mystery of a face or generally in a composition. Makes it more fascinating and as you have said "low light makes people to want to think more about the photo". I think that feeling, emotion and expression are upon everything. And this image has so much emotion!
Phil Douglis03-Dec-2008 06:21
You interpret the scene here very much as I did, Jenene. The woman seems almost grief stricken, while the man in silhouette sits in numb, blind silence in the background. I wanted the dark shadows to fill as much of the image as possible to feed the imagination with the mystery of the moment.
JSWaters03-Dec-2008 05:29
We can see the woman's sadness on her face, but feel the same from the man in the background due to your decision to veil him in darkness.
Jenene
Phil Douglis01-Dec-2008 00:29
Picture editing can be an exciting time, because we see for the first time exactly what we have been able to preserve of a moment in time, light, and space. I made this shot intuitively and spontaneously, never really knowing what story it would tell. But once I could study it on the computer screen back at the hotel, I saw that all the time I had spent shooting on that single corner in Tozeur that morning was well worth the effort.
Tim May30-Nov-2008 23:42
It is often in the editing that our images are made - I think I might have regretted that this woman got into my shot - but when I got back seen and delighted in the drama.
Phil Douglis28-Nov-2008 23:33
Thanks, Carol, for getting in to t his story. As far as I know, the man seemed to be seeking alms. I am not sure if he received any that morning. The woman seemed to be distressed as she hurried past me. We will never why, but that is what expressive photography is supposed to do for us -- ask us questions, and demand answers.
Carol E Sandgren28-Nov-2008 22:51
You are the master of light as well as timing. Again, we are able to conjur up in our own minds what is really happening here..... why is that woman so forlorn, and what is the man waiting for?
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