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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Five: Using clouds to imply meaning > Fisher Towers, Moab, Utah, 2009
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14-NOV-2009

Fisher Towers, Moab, Utah, 2009

Is it a cloud or is it fog? This image asks such a question. Both are made of condensed water – clouds generally soar high above the earth while fog hovers close to it. In this case the line is blurred, because Moab’s iconic Fisher Towers rest upon the ground but rise into the sky, and I find the moment when they emerge from the billowing clouds of fog that have gathered around the snow covered butte. The billowing mist abstracts the scene, rendering the Towers as stylized skyscrapers – a city of ghosts. The scene is quite different from the one I photographed from the same spot at sunset, three years earlier. ( http://www.pbase.com/image/69219410 ) In that image, Fisher Towers is wreathed in shadow and bathed in gold. In this one, it emerges from the mist as a primitive cityscape. Each plays with the imagination, but in strikingly different ways.

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Phil Douglis31-Jul-2010 18:40
Thanks, Iris. As I recall, you also shared this moment with us. It was truly a mystical scene, and the fog did a beautiful job of abstracting these buttes for us. Fog indeed challenges us to see beyond the obvious. It alternately can hide and reveal things as it moves along the ground, providing a spark to the imagination in the process.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)30-Jul-2010 17:31
The clouds of fog create a mystical landscape that stimulates the imagination. I don't see the fog and cold as nature's curse, but as nature's way of challenging us to see beyond the obvious. You did that here!
Phil Douglis25-Nov-2009 19:38
Yes, that phrase does suggest a metaphor for life itself, Tim. And also for the way the natural world functions. It alternately blesses us with gilded landscapes and then tries to curse us with fog and cold. It is up to us, as nature photographers, to make the best out of both such natural blessings and curses.
Tim May25-Nov-2009 18:54
"Same place, different days and times" That comment moves the two images into a metaphor for life for me - some days are sunny and golden - some shrouded and cold.
Phil Douglis24-Nov-2009 18:27
This image is all about the atmosphere, Alina. I don't think you need to decide which version -- this one or the one I made three years ago at sunset -- is "better." As I told another commenter when she responded to that image, "there is no better or best here. There is only a comparison showing how different the same subject can be interpreted under different circumstances. The sunset version is glorious, while this image is brooding and haunted. Same place, different days and times."
Alina24-Nov-2009 11:57
Cloud or fog looks wet and cold to me but I like the atmosphere. The gold version of Fisher Towers is gorgeous too. It is hard to decide which one is better :)
Phil Douglis23-Nov-2009 21:15
This is a haunted landscape, and it does play tricks on our perception. Thanks for commenting, Carol.
Carol E Sandgren23-Nov-2009 18:07
The top two thirds of your image is indeed quite haunting especially as contrasted by the more colorful foreground below it. At first I saw some UFO obscured by dust or fog flying around! The fog can indeed play tricks on our perception! Amazing image!
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