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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Nine: Composition -- putting it together > Not much doing in Kingman, Arizona, 2009
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15-APR-2009

Not much doing in Kingman, Arizona, 2009

We choose to shoot with early light on the fringes of Kingman, too early for much activity. I wanted this image to speak of silence – a lone car and a single person surrounded by empty streets and sidewalks that stretch as far as we can see. (I am not sure if the light changed to red while the car was already in the intersection or not – but at this time and place, a traffic violation would hardly matter.) I compose the photo by using the wideangle lens to emphasize the massive scale of the sidewalk in the foregound, which gets smaller and smaller as it flows into the background. I interrupt the flow with the silhouetted man sitting on the corner, staring into space. He has been stopped in time, just as the camera has stopped the car, and just as the stop sign above him requests.

Leica D-Lux 4
1/1000s f/5.0 at 5.1mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis23-Apr-2009 18:02
Yes, I did, Vera. I was waiting for someone to notice the incongruity of the contrast between this image, which is all about silence, and that sign, which promotes sound. I also saw the importance of the stop sign here -- the man has stopped his journey to rest on the curb, and time itself has stopped as well, as the red car is frozen in its tracks during the 1/1000th of a second that the shutter was open here.
Guest 22-Apr-2009 23:44
One red car going down the road. One person who looks like they have stopped their trip to watch that one red car. I can't put my finger on it, but I am really drawn to this photo. I imagine it as a very quiet time, but have you noticed the sign in the corner that says "sound." LOL.
Phil Douglis21-Apr-2009 21:39
Good point -- you always notice such things as these observations. My use of "fringes" meant the social fringe was well as the physical fringe. As for the light, your observation makes sense. Thanks.
Tim May21-Apr-2009 20:27
Interesting that you write of the being the "fringes of Kingman" when it used to be the heart of Kingman. By the way, I suspect that that is not a red, yellow, green stop light, but rather a flashing single red one to remind people to stop.
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