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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Eight: Using symbols and metaphors to express meaning > Confinement, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2009
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10-JUN-2009

Confinement, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2009

An awning of slats runs along side of Scottsdale’s library, and at 2:30 in the afternoon, the angle of the sun paints the both the sidewalk and the library wall with a pattern of horizontal bars. While on a field shoot, I asked my tutorial student to take a break on a bench at the base of the wall. She does not seem very enthusiastic over stopping her shooting, which makes the message of my photograph even more expressive. She tries here to relax, but her folded arms tell another story. The shadows slice across her, hiding her face in deep shadow. They make her anonymous, a symbol of confinement and restraint. She makes no effort to resist. She will simply wait it out, a metaphor for humanity trapped in a situation it cannot remedy. By using a 16mm wideangle focal length, I can move in to make her large, yet still retain a considerable about of wall and sidewalk in the image. I also convert the warm colors of her clothing and skin to black and white, making the symbolism stronger in the process.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
1/500s f/9.0 at 8.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis28-Jun-2009 07:01
I know how busy you must be, Ana. It is always a great pleasure to hear from you, if only to say "wow." All the best, Phil.
Ana Carloto O'Shea14-Jun-2009 11:59
Yes, it has been a while, but the truth is that I don't have much time for pbase these days, I do "surf" around and occasionally I see a photo that makes me go "Wow! I wish I had taken that one!" I guess I just got lazy with words, or maybe I am just back to the basics and all I can say is "Wow Phil! I wish I had taken this one".
Phil Douglis13-Jun-2009 03:18
Thanks, Tim. The shadowed face is essential. I want her to be a symbol, representing humanity itself. The shadow on her face removes her identity, abstracting her into a symbolic figure. You are right -- when the face is gone, it is more than she who seems trapped here. It is all of us.
sunlightpix13-Jun-2009 03:08
I meant to add in my comment that the windows are like eyes.
Tim May13-Jun-2009 03:01
I think it helps the mood that her face is in shadow - it adds more to the sense of her being trapped or ensnared.
Phil Douglis13-Jun-2009 02:37
Thanks, Carol and Rose, for coming to this image. Of the six hundred images I made over the three days of shooting with her, this image perhaps offers the most food for thought. The horizontal jail concept certainly is evident here, and I also like the thought of a spider's web, with the lady snared at the center, and the shadows painting her body as if it were prisoner's uniform. This image is indeed rich in the human value of resignation, which works along with other values such as confinement, restraint, and ensnarement. If we had come to this library at another time of day, this shot would have been unavailable. My tutorial student learned much from this encounter, and so did I.
Carol E Sandgren13-Jun-2009 02:07
She's in horizontal jail and doesn't look too happy about it. Nice use of shapes here I appreciate the composition with the extra dark space top and bottom that do not match.
sunlightpix13-Jun-2009 02:06
Wow, I love the powerful interplay of dark and light! The slat shadows combined with the bench shadows evoke a spider web context with the lady snared at the center. The shadows across her body become a prisoner uniform. In her isolation she seems resigned to her fate. The fact that all the knowledge of the library is just a few feet away adds extra intrigue.
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