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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty: Using silhouettes as abstract symbols and metaphors > Treading lightly, Arches National Park, Utah, 2009
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13-NOV-2009

Treading lightly, Arches National Park, Utah, 2009

It was not a day for landscape photography, yet there we were, shooting in one of the most spectacular National Parks of them all. I committed early on to shooting abstracted impressions of the park’s features, since the only light was utterly flat due to leaden skies. I watched as visitors scrambled in and out of the huge arches that give the park its identity. If I exposed on such people, they became silhouettes, such as this lone figure, which seems to take one step forward while at the same time falling backwards. He or she gives new meaning to the phrase “treading lightly.” Using a 14mm wideangle focal length, I move in as close as I can on the figure while still including the entire massive sweep of the arch soaring overhead.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1
1/400s f/7.1 at 7.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis23-Dec-2009 18:08
So good to hear from you, Xin -- and glad that this image, which is among my favorites from my recent visit to Utah, caught your eye. It tells us that we don't always need glorious light to celebrate the beauty of nature in photography. In this case, the small celebratory step below the massive arch, does quite well on its own.
Sheena Xin Liu22-Dec-2009 19:26
You were back to Utah, Phil! I must say I was immediately drawn by this image and I am stunned with the incongruity together with the intense visual impact : the scale differentiation between the little human figure and the gigantic landscape is amazing. I agree with Carol that the overcast sky color dramatizes and intensifies the scene. Thanks for sharing!
Phil Douglis24-Nov-2009 02:27
You are right, Carol -- the dull sky offers a better canvas for the interaction between the figure and the arch. As for images of arches, I don't have too many of them. Unless there are strong visual elements caught within them, such as here, I find arches rather dull subjects. I did make a memorable arch image on my first visit to Canyonlands National Park with Tim three years ago. You can see it athttp://www.pbase.com/image/69219411 I only show part of that arch -- most of the image is the vista within it. (We were scheduled to visit this arch again on this trip, but bad weather diverted us.)
Carol E Sandgren24-Nov-2009 00:47
Actually you could consider the dull sky as an advantage: it lets your image concentrate on the arch hole and subject. With a brilliantly blue sky, I think the attention to the shapes would have been lessened substantially as we'd take in the entire scene as one whole image. This way, your silhouetted hiker treading lightly stand out, and accentuates the massive shape. I like that the shape looks like an eye, with which to see. I've been waiting to see an arch image in your galleries and finally have been rewarded. In spite of the dull day, that must have been a thrill seeing one of these famous icons come to life with a person entering the picture.
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