Karen Blixen's desk, Nairobi, Kenya, 2002 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Karen Blixen's desk, Nairobi, Kenya, 2002

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24-NOV-2002

Karen Blixen's desk, Nairobi, Kenya, 2002

Karen Blixen, author of "Out of Africa" once worked at this desk. By abstracting detail through backlighting, I symbolize the tools of her craft, instead of describing them.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/50s f/2.8 at 21.0mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		21-Jun-2007 21:09
Thanks, Ceci, for coming to this image and sharing this remarkable, if tragic, bit of history with me. It makes this 2002 image, which has long been one of my favorites, even more special to me. The Blixen home in Nairobi is now a museum, but I could still feel her presence in everything I saw and photographed there. I remember the 1985 film with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford -- Klaus Maria Branddauer played Bror Blixen and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in that role.

Guest		21-Jun-2007 18:45
What a beautiful, simple and evocative photograph, of Denmark's great writer and poet, Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), whose book OUT OF AFRICA stands as one of the definitive chronicles of life -- both native and non-native -- at the time when Europe's major powers were squabbling over who "owned" what on the dark continent. I love the light coming in through the sheer curtain, and the suggestion of greenery on the other side, and the silhouetted phone and typewriter in the foreground. Karen Blixen's husband Bror Blixen was my mother's godfather, the white hunter who was killed in Stockholm on the way to the christening of his godson Blixen -- my little brother, born in Stockholm, February 25th, 1946, while my parents were on diplomatic service there.

Guest		13-Nov-2006 14:50
Understood.

Phil Douglis		11-Nov-2006 20:05
You are right, Theodore. A black and white rendering would have removed the present, and focused on the ghostly past. It would have been an entirely different image, but not neccessarily a "better" image. There is no such thing as a "better or worse" version of an expressive image. I made this photograph as I wanted to make it -- merging the past into the present by keeping that green grass green.

Guest		11-Nov-2006 11:38
Very nice. It almost looks B&W. Nice contrast. Would have given your commentry a more ghostly feel if the photo was B&W.

Phil Douglis		23-Oct-2006 20:38
Many of my images step back into time, Azlin. By abstracting it as I do, I've tried to make the image timeless. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Azlin Ahmad		20-Oct-2006 16:35
What is strikikng to me is the curtain, it adds femininity to the whole image, and I can very well imagine Karen Blixen looking out of this window as she was writing about her coffee farm. I also like the feeling that I have stepped back in time, to witness a day in her life.

Phil Douglis		27-Feb-2005 06:54
Very well said, Adal. I did not make the connection between Danish light and Kenyan light. But now it seems so obvious. The lace curtain served her well. And serves this image well.

Adalberto Tiburzi		26-Feb-2005 06:40
I like all the things mentioned below. Just want to point out the role of the curtain here. That feminine veil separates the outdoors lime light of Africa from the intimate darkness indoors. This make me think also of the definition Karen Blixen gives us of the light of Africa: "bluish". Not surpring at all. Her eyes were used to the golden sun of Danemark so low on the horizon, much warmer than the zenithal (photogaphically "cold") sun of Kenia. A real paradox ;-)

Phil Douglis		14-Dec-2004 23:22
Mikel, as I was mentioning to Clara below, abstraction can cause an aging effect by making things seem to be timeless. You are right -- I abstract by taking away all detail with backlighting here, and evoke another era in time altogether.

Guest		14-Dec-2004 22:58
It does give you a sense of beeng in an other year perhaps the phone wold even ring in a fiew moments. Certainly a good abstraction.

Phil Douglis		01-Dec-2004 22:49
The aging effect you mention, Clara, is due to the abstraction. You see only the form of those old instruments, and will use your own imagination to fill in the details. Most people will be thinking "old" and will imagine them to look even more aged than they are.

Guest		01-Dec-2004 17:58
interesting and powerful shoot, due to the contrast (both of light/dark and of the actual elements). that machinery is more aged under your lense.

Phil Douglis		19-Nov-2004 20:17
Thanks, AMP. I can see how you can interpret this scene in terms of its contrasts.

AMP		19-Nov-2004 17:56
The host of this room, have the character of the determination. The bright window I feels he is morally upright.The furniture of the deep color, be like the German,Uncompromising. This is what I see.

Phil Douglis		31-Oct-2004 19:35
Nut, you should have been a detective. You manage here to reconstruct an entire life from a few visual clues. Every one of your opinions make good sense. If you choose to become a photographer yourself, your ability to read meaning into objects such as these will allow you to become an effective visual story teller. Thanks for thse observations. I find them fascinating.

nut		31-Oct-2004 16:19
Well, it's just my personal opinion. I said that she work hard because she had no time to decorate her room, only curtain behind her desk told me that this room was belong to woman. She had a telephone, it mean she had to communicate with someone..somewhere often. More communicate, more problems and more work too. She used a light typeweiter. It mean she moved very often too. So I think she's hard worker. I am not sure about backgroud of her room, but it look like her room is not too far from small tropical forest. Some animals might walk out from there and come close to her. There are many tall glass windows behind her. But she didn't afraid of that. She didn't turn back to see what is in behind her. Her desk and chair are too heavy to do that. If she can turn back face off the forest like this. I think she's a brave woman with strong mind because she didn't afraid of darkness. Heavy desk and chair told me that she always concentrate on what she do. When she sit there, it will be long time to stand up.

Phil Douglis		31-Oct-2004 06:36
I am amazed that you were able to come up with such an accurate characterization of Karen Blixen from just looking at my picture. How did this picture define her character for you so well? By the way, she wrote the book "Out of Africa" back in the early days of the 20th Century.

nut		31-Oct-2004 06:33
The truth is I don't who is Karen Blixen :) I am in narrow world. So what I said is what I saw here.

Phil Douglis		30-Oct-2004 23:35
Are you making these judgments on Blixen's abilities based on this image or what you know of her life? From this image, I can imagine her at work here, but I really can't tell what kind of a person she was.

nut		30-Oct-2004 16:51
I think Karen Blixen work hard and put all her concentrate on what she want to do. She is brave woman with strong mind. And she follow her aim. I believe she won't give up for anything or anyone. This room look bright enough to me. I think reflection on her desk is come from source on the right side. And that make very green tree on the left.

Phil Douglis		03-Dec-2003 20:09
Thanks, Likyin Yeung, for your comment. I think you must be referring here to a piece of glass that protects the surface of Karen Blixen's old desk. Glass reflects light, and as you say, the reflected light coming from underneath those desktop objects helps define them. If the glass was not there, these objects would merge into the desk itself. Good question, and thanks for the comment. Phil

Guest		03-Dec-2003 13:45
I like this image and may I ask a small question: what are there existing behind the bottom of the windows (door?) which created the brightest part of the picture in such a right place? The light, together with its interesing reflection on the board, made the desktop objects more lively and telling.

Phil Douglis		28-Nov-2003 02:31
Good point, Marek. Some pictures require context to work. To an admirer of Karen Blixen's writings, this photograph should have special meanng. On the other hand, I agree that images such as this one can also work without such a context. Because it is an abstraction, and encourages viewers to use their own imaginations, this image provokes thoughts of tools that are now obsolete, and a slower-paced, more elegant world no longer with us.

Guest		27-Nov-2003 22:47
It works even if you don't know.

Guest		07-Oct-2003 15:01
So serene. I love the light and the rhythm created in the pattern of the curtain.

Phil Douglis		27-Sep-2003 19:31
Thanks, Ray. Backlighted subjects such as this can be difficult to photograph. If I had exposed for the things on the desk, I would have lost the wonderful curtain detail. So I exposed for the curtain, and her desktop tools became silhouettes. The beauty of digital imaging is that you can instantly compare approaches on the spot -- it takes the guesswork out of photography.

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