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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Ten: A Walk in the Park – only minutes away > Ducklings on parade, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2016
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25-APR-2016

Ducklings on parade, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2016

I use a series of four horizontal panels to organize this scene of a mother duck leading her brood of more than a dozen ducklings on a lunchtime hunt. My tutorial student and I followed these creatures as they combed the grassy slopes of the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall for meal morsels. The feed itself was an unimpressive subject. The ducks were generally facing away from us, often in shade, and their faces were often obscured. They were on their way back to one of the park’s reflecting pools when I made this image. Here they appear in striking profile, walking nearly two by two, their parade echoing the horizontal line of shrubs behind them, the horizontal flow of the pool, and a horizontal blue wall on the other side of the pool, topped by a row of plantings. The entire image seems to be on the move with the ducklings. A glorious fan of water spouting from the pool’s fountain dominates the image and crowns the image with celebratory symbolism.

FujiFilm X-T1
1/420s f/16.0 at 230.0mm iso640 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis11-Jul-2016 04:32
It is always a pleasure to find your wonderful comments in my galleries, Claudia. Your words go right to the heart of this image -- they reflect some of my own feelings about this little parade as it unfolded before us. When you called that shower of water a "message of hope and survival," you add a layer of meaning that makes me see this image in a fresh way. Thanks to you, it now becomes a metaphor for the life cycle itself. There is only one mother, yet so many ducklings. The image makes us wonder why? The answer: it is nature's way of ensuring the survival of the species.
BleuEvanescence10-Jul-2016 19:34
Ahhh Phil, i really like this image.
Wow, the nother duck had aaallll these ducklings!
The reflexion under the birds tells s how warm a day this must have been.
The water, like coming out of the ground is like a message there is hope and they will survive.
Ultimately, it is perhaps a perfect day at the beach for them and you were there juste at the right time...
As you have this natural sensor that captures wonders as you see what "is"...at the time it is...
Merci Phil!!! Big hug and continue celebrating life the best way you know it.
Phil Douglis29-Apr-2016 23:27
Flock of full fowls! What an apt title, Iris. I built this image around the contrasting vertical geyser of water and the repeating horizontal flow of ducks, foliage and walls.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)29-Apr-2016 16:28
Love this orderly flock of full fowls!! The vertical spray of water provides a striking counterbalance to the otherwise horizontal lines in this image.
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