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2nd Place:Looking out Bali (Patrick Maechler)

Author Comment:
The third picture is maybe a bit of all categories, abstractions,
incongruities and expressing human values.
It was taken 2003 in Bali at the beach of Kuta.
It was interesting, because on one side there was the grown up, white
tourist, and just beside of him the balinese kid, being not just
different age, color and size, but also different culture, sitting
there together like old friends, gazing at the sea and let their minds
wander around the horizon. So it is in the mind of the viewer to guess
what they where thinking about.


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Phil Douglis25-Sep-2005 23:47
Second Place: Pbase Challenge #1:

Patrick Maechler's "Looking Out Bali" is a remarkably expressive image in both its content and form. It immediately moved me, both emotionally and intellectually. He uses abstraction brilliantly by shooting his subjects from behind, making them more than a pair of particular people, and instead universal symbols of mankind itself. The sand, water, rock and sky are simple and elemental, providing a clean context for the small subjects. By choosing black and white over color, he takes us out of the present and into the past. This image could have been made at any time, anywhere.

Patrick uses every inch of his frame to good effect. There nothing wasted. Even the black rock, which thrusts its way into the heart of the image, serves a function, symbolizing a breakwater, a safe haven, guarding these vulnerable people from the vast and unknown forces of nature that confronts them.

The incongruous contrasts of age and ethnicity here take the image out of the ordinary, and stimulates our imagination. There is also strong scale incongruity present -- the tiny figures are dwarfed by the vast domain of nature, yet it becomes all theirs and only theirs.

Patrick builds a substantive message around human values -- vulnerability, expectation, awe, wonder are all expressed here. Ultimately, this image suggests human origins themselves. Life itself emerged from the sea, and here we look back at our origins in wonder and awe. For all of these reasons, I have selected Patrick Maechler's "Looking Out Bali" as the second place winner of Pbase Challenge #1.