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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Seventeen: Memories in Metal and Stone: How monuments, sculpture, and tombs express ideas. > Cloister, Fonseca College, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 2004
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02-SEP-2004

Cloister, Fonseca College, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 2004

Archbishop Fonseca III founded Fonseca College in Santiago in the 16th century. To offer viewers a good sense of this place, as well as the Archbishop himself, I integrate a section of the cloister with a part of the statue. This image is as much about light and color as it is about things. Once again, a spot meter allows me to expose for the brightest part of the picture – the center part of the cloister itself. Everything else in the image becomes underexposed – the left side of the cloister, the bush and the statue. Because of these dark shadows, the cloister and statue look old, very old. That is how I wanted this image to feel. We are encouraged to study the image, looking at its now subdued detail. We see a small sculpture of a turbaned figure on the cloister, no doubt a reference to the Moors who once ruled here. A Latin inscription streams cross the top of the picture. I carefully adjusted my camera position to allow the elbow of the Archbishop to just touch the column of the Cloister. He becomes a part of it. His body language is exquisite – hunched over, deep in thought, perfect reactions for a man with great responsibilities – and ambitions. By using almost a quarter of the picture for that bush, I was able to also to stress the contrast between yesterday and today – the greenery flourishes amidst the old stones and metal around it.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/1000s f/4.0 at 28.8mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis22-Oct-2004 01:04
Thank, Anna, for being the first to recognize the contrasting ideas expressed in this picture. Essentially it is the story of yesterday and today, expressed in light and shadow.
Anna Yu14-Oct-2004 17:52
Life and death, old and new, light and shadow. A dramatic image that suggests all these things to me. The old stone is particularly beautiful.
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