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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Four: Photographing the tourist in all of us > Charting a course, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 2009
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26-JUL-2009

Charting a course, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 2009

Tourists spend a lot of time trying to figure out where they are, and where they might want to go. I found this woman seated in a hallway of a shopping plaza, with her purchase in her lap and her map in her hands. I waited until she raised the map towards her face, which abstracted her and asks the viewer to wonder how she may be reacting to what she is learning. I frame her with abstracted people on either side. The woman at left wriggles a toe upwards in her sandal – she may be anxious to get going. The man at right, however, seems completely relaxed.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
1/30s f/4.0 at 45.0mm iso400 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis21-Nov-2009 00:32
And layers of color in the map as well! Thanks, Tim, for the salute to her colorist.
Tim May20-Nov-2009 22:55
The woman with the map's hair is what intrigues me - there are three layers of color there!
Phil Douglis17-Aug-2009 19:40
I wanted all three people to be abstracted -- the viewer should wonder about the state of each of these people as they wait together, yet apart. The map removed much of the woman at center, so I used my frame to remove much of the people who flank her. Thanks, Chris, for seeing the value in showing less here in order to say more.
Chris Sofopoulos17-Aug-2009 11:07
I like how you composed it Phil. The woman abstracted with map and the most important for me the other two (left and right). I like that you abstracted them seeing only legs and arms - no faces! Very nicely framed!
Phil Douglis04-Aug-2009 21:33
The framing makes this image express its ideas. Thanks, Vera and Carol, for recognizing the effect of the frame on the message here. Given this frame, and the abstraction created by the map itself, we are left with a story expressed essentially by extremities. An anxious toe, a limp hand, and a pair of feet comforting each other go a long way here. And its all because there are no heads visible, except for the upper half of the head of the woman holding the map. I tried your crop, Carol, and the image also looks great with her entire head loped off. Cropping is part of the abstracting process. It can make or break an idea.
Carol E Sandgren04-Aug-2009 05:47
Oooo, a study of limbs almost! Legs and arms and hands can express so much. These three seem to be in different mindsets from each other.
Guest 04-Aug-2009 01:05
I like how she is framed by the folks around her. Very interesting framing which totally adds to the picture.
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