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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eight: Light and shadow shape meaning > San Francisco Monastery, Lima, Peru, 2003
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23-DEC-2003

San Francisco Monastery, Lima, Peru, 2003


Rather than attempt to photographically describe the appearance of this beautiful Peruvian monastery built by the Spaniards in 1620, I use light and shadow to express the feelings I had while walking through a long, haunting gallery. Its arched windows had bars on them – this monastery was not only a retreat but also a sanctuary, a place of refuge at a time of great dangers. The light on the floor was reddish orange – the color of fire. I used a wideangle converter to create a series of window shadows moving through space, as if from the past into the present. It was a mystical place, and I use the beauty of its light and the symbols of its colors and shadows in my attempt to visually define it.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/160s f/4.0 at 28.8mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis27-May-2006 04:30
Thank you for appreciating the color here, Jack -- red is not only delicious, it is the color of danger, and that is what I've tried to imply here.
Guest 27-May-2006 03:11
Can't pass this one up, the red is delicious!!
Guest 09-Jun-2005 02:39
Great shot Phil ,I really like it !
Phil Douglis30-Apr-2005 21:25
Thanks for your perceptive and ironic comments on this image, Ruth. Within this place of sanctuary, you feel trapped forever. This image is a successful expression because of how it causes the imaginations of my viewers to create their own meanings. Likyin sees a struggle between control (the bars) and the colors of human nature symbolizing warmth, blood, and desire, which she feels will eventually expand to melt down the frames that are enclosing them. You come to it from an entirely different perspective -- you know full well what it means to have to bend to the iron will of institutions, so you feel that ghosts are trapped within these halls, and there is no escape, ever. You see a monastery as a place where those who prefer the security of imprisonment will flourish, bonding forever with their devotions. The empty dreams and broken promises you see here are very real to you, not so much because of what is in this image, but because of what you yourself have put into it.

As for my own feelings, I sensed that haunted quality you mentioned as I walked these halls, and I wanted to express the idea of spirits gathering in the sanctuary of darkness within this image, while the fires of intolerance, rage, bigotry, and hate consume all who once stood outside of these walls. Each of us brings our own personal experiences and insights to this image, and we each will get different things out of it. And that is what the art of expressive photography intends to accomplish.
ruthemily30-Apr-2005 21:01
empty dreams and broken promises? those words won't leave my head when looking at this photo.
ruthemily30-Apr-2005 21:00
this speaks to me of institutions. now you know why this one jumped out at me today. i see ghosts at the top, the darker areas, they've died in there because you can never escape barred up places. not even when the bars become mere shadows, you can never get away. don't be fooled by the light trying to make it all into one big pretty pattern.once you've blocked in somewhere, you're somehow there forever. in a religious sense, as this is a monastery, maybe that's something people would strive for. maybe they want to be 'trapped' and unable to escape their devotion. it just seems empty to me.
Phil Douglis03-Feb-2004 17:59
Likyin: you beautifully articulate some of the subtle messages that lurk within this image. Your interpretion gives us food for thought, and validates my intention to go beyond just an aesthetic expression here. I wanted this picture to say something to my viewers, and I see now that it has. Thank you, Likyin, once again, for your thoughtful analysis.
Guest 03-Feb-2004 16:00
redish orange, burning, warm, blood, desire, indulging...
was encaged by lists of straight iron bars: still, orderly, peaceful, and somehow lifeless...
only limited changing was allowed as shown by each upper part of grids.
Even so, with the shadow of control, the color of human nature won't change a single bit, but only keeps expanding, with the tendency to melt down the frames.
Phil Douglis29-Jan-2004 04:07
Thanks, Carol, for your appreciation of this image. Light is a medium of abstraction, and this is an extremely abstract way to depict a building famous for its old tiles and beautiful altars. However not many people seem to look down as they walk its halls. They are too busy admiring the walls, ceilings, niches, and santuaries that line them. But I did look down and this is what I saw and decided to photograph. For me, it was the essence of the place.
Carol E Sandgren29-Jan-2004 03:02
Waht a great image and clever way in which to express your feelings in this place. It is much easier to sense what is going on in the shadows than an actual shot of the place, in my opinion. And of course the angle, coming out towards us from afar is also an expression of time and history too.
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