photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty One: Ruins and wrecks: photographing the rusted, busted past > Decay, Devils Island, French Guyana, 2010
previous | next
28-DEC-2010

Decay, Devils Island, French Guyana, 2010

This former French penal colony, made famous by the book and subsequent 1973 film “Papillon” with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, is off the beaten tourist track, and therefore quite difficult to visit. I was delighted that our cruise ship stopped there for a morning, allowing me wander at will for several hours. The prison has been abandoned for 65 years. I found a derrick rusting away on the shoreline, and I made this closeup image of it, emphasizing its cruel, jagged shape by backlighting it. To me, it represented the character of the old prison itself. I framed it as a diagonal, running precisely from corner to corner, and repeating the original directional flow of the derrick itself. I was able to bring out a bit of the rust in the shadows, contrasting its decay to the vitality of the softly focused green water and weeds in the background.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2
1/1000s f/9.0 at 61.0mm iso160 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment