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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eight: Light and shadow shape meaning > Forgotten, Mohonk Museum Attic, New Paltz, New York, 2006
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05-AUG-2006

Forgotten, Mohonk Museum Attic, New Paltz, New York, 2006

It is not often that one visits a resort so old that it has its own museum. Such is the case at Mohonk Mountain House, a Victorian resort founded in 1869. As the resort ages, its museum, housed in a barn on the grounds, grows apace. I spent several hours prowling its crowded floors, filled with fascinating 19th and 20th Century artifacts of a country hotel. In a corner of the museum’s attic, I found a small dimly lit room housing dusty registers of hotel guests, going back to the 1870s. On a shelf above some of those registers stood three painted plaster busts. In another era, they might have adorned the hotel’s lobby or dining room. Forgotten and unseen, their colors are faded and their plaster is chipped. Yet they still carry themselves with dignity as they hold their poses from another time. I isolate them in the light from a distant window by using spot-metering and a hand-held shutter speed of 1/13th of a second. The guest registers are barely visible, their contents out of sight and out of mind. It is said by some that Mohonk is haunted by ghosts from its past. If so, it would not surprise me if some of them might live in this room.

Leica D-Lux 2
1/13s f/4.0 at 14.4mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis06-Sep-2006 19:16
I like your insights, Jude -- there is a certain haughty elegance to these busts that reminds us of a time where only certain kinds of people were welcome at mountain resorts such as this one. For years, in fact, no alcohol was consumed here -- it was not in keeping with the tone of the resort. It is a rustic place, but it remains quite refined, to this very day. This image draws heavily on the atmosphere created by the tones of the wood and the dark shadows. Romanticism, and yes, the ghostly as well.
Jude Marion06-Sep-2006 13:57
There is a haughty elegance to the poses struck by these plasters. I can't help but think there was a hautiness about the resort guests whose names still live in those registers. But times have changed, those guests have passed away (or perhaps exist as ghosts!) and these three busts seem to be custodians over the registers and the names recorded in them.

The registers are central in the image, and I'm instantly drawn to the connection between the books and the lowered gaze of the one bust. The low lighting creates a certain romanticism here - highlighting the curvilinear details details of the bust while they melt into the dark shadows. The warm tones of the woodwork add to the atmosphere.
Phil Douglis22-Aug-2006 19:24
Glad you found it, too, Jenene. Abstraction does wonderful things to the imagination. I wanted to show as little of these forgotten busts as I could, so as to leave more to your own imagination. You are right, they seem even more precious because they seem so close to being lost forever.
JSWaters22-Aug-2006 19:20
Your scant light and their shadowy recess bely the ravages of time. They are like memories that emerge when tickled by a fleeting thought - all the more sweet because we thought we had lost them - and they are still precious.
Jenene
Phil Douglis18-Aug-2006 19:37
And I thought this image was going to be almost forgotten, until you found, Ai Li. Of all the images I made on my recent trip to the New York area, this is the most haunting. So yes, suck in that breath of yours and hold it. Not a whisper, or you will awaken them. I love the way you see them as "shining beauty" -- they were once beautiful maidens. But their faces are now chipped and covered with dust. I did not want to dwell on what they are, Ai Li. I wanted to tell you here what they were. And through the power of expressive photography -- using negative space created by abstraction with selective metering -- I can! Thank you for coming to this image and immersing yourself in it.
AL18-Aug-2006 09:33
Oops! I didn't want to spoil the beautiful mood by mentioning about the haunting ghosts :-)
AL18-Aug-2006 09:31
Almost being forgotten till you found them! Amazing use of available light and detail of a handheld shot. I'm indeed drawn by their poses and also the moody colors. And the negative space created a even more intense atmosphere, making me hold my breath so as not to disturb their shining beauty under your guiding light...
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