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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Five: Using the frame to define ideas > Fruitful frame, Ben Tre, Vietnam, 2008
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01-JAN-2008

Fruitful frame, Ben Tre, Vietnam, 2008

I enjoy finding and using frames within my own frames, not for aesthetic purposes, but rather to reinforce what I am trying to say. It must have been a slow day at the Ben Tre market, because these women seemed very relaxed, particularly the woman resting on her arms in the background. I immediately noticed that they had festooned the top of their stall with bunches of red grapes. By moving in on those grapes with a 28mm wideangle lens, I was able to expand my image, getting close enough to the relatively small grapes to completely border the top of my own frame with them, and also include both vendors behind the piles of apples, oranges, and grapes that filled the foreground. By creating a frame of fruit within my own frame, I intensify the point of the picture – these are fruit vendors, and what they sell is both fresh and bountiful.

Leica D-Lux 3
1/8s f/2.8 at 6.3mm iso400 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis27-Feb-2008 19:37
Thanks for noting the role played by the woman's clothing here, Tim. She seems to be offering herself up as part of this bountiful feast, and the blouse that she wears certainly extends the flow of that feast. This image is all about color and gesture, and through them it expresses the opulence of Vietnam's gracious sense of hospitality.
Tim May27-Feb-2008 17:03
Such a sensuous image! Jay Maisel speak of color, light and gesture and for me this image is not only the frame but the interplay of color and gesture. The woman is basking in all that bounty and in a way seeming to offer herself as a part of the feast by her gesture. I also notice that her colorful blouse seems adds to the color. It is almost as if she is wearing "fruit camouflage."
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