photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Four: Photographing the tourist in all of us > Interlude, Devil’s Island, French Guyana, 2010
previous | next
28-DEC-2010

Interlude, Devil’s Island, French Guyana, 2010

I found these tourists enjoying the waters off the former French prison colony. It is a study in incongruity – the gathering appears quite serene, oblivious to the horrific past of this place. I layer this image, starting with the bright orange towel on the bench in the foreground. The horizontal thrust of the towel is repeated in the subsequent layers – a reclining man and his family arrayed horizontally along the shoreline in middleground, and a horizontal line of boats including yachts, a ferry, and a cruise ship in the background.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5
1/800s f/5.6 at 5.1mm iso80 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Phil Douglis16-Jan-2011 19:23
Thanks for noting the color and light quality here, Iris. There is a quiet, pastoral look to the scene, almost painterly. Yet I made this image at mid-day, when the light is often harsh. However, at the moment I shot, a cloud passed over the sun, casting a shadow on this foreground scene, while the background remains fully illuminated. The soft shadow here moderates the harshness of the lighting conditions. The presence of the orange towel provides the focal point, and the body language of each person is suspended in time and related in space.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)16-Jan-2011 17:53
The overall color and quality of light romanticize this image further adding to the incongruity.
Commenting on this page requires full PBase membership.
Please login or register.