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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eight: Light and shadow shape meaning > A mother's tomb, Central Cemetery, Vienna, Austria, 2003
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17-APR-2003

A mother's tomb, Central Cemetery, Vienna, Austria, 2003

Highlights graze this bronze monument to a woman who left four young children behind. It was the interplay of light and shadow that attracted my interest first, not the tomb. These highlights emphasized only the youngest and the oldest of the children, and minimized the rest. Nature sculpts and resculpts this sculpture with light every day. It's meaning changes hourly. At this moment, the light was coming from the side and grazing only the two children who look to the left. I exposed for them, knowing that if I exposed for the entire scene in order to make shadow detail more visible, I would wash out the details in the highlighted areas. Shadows withhold and suggest meaning, while light fully reveals it. I often expose for highlights, and let shadows go dark. It makes my pictures more abstract, less literal, and often more dimensional, leaving room for the viewer's imagination to do its work.

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Phil Douglis01-Jul-2007 20:12
Thank you so much, friend Marisa, for seeing the symbolic message conveyed by the small tree in this funerary sculpture. The light falls on the baby, the tree, and the young girl -- confering upon each of them the symbolic role of keeping the dead mother's memory alive. I agree -- the leaves on the tree, and the tiny fruits or berries as well, are there for a purpose, symbolizing life and renewal. You have added a new dimension of meaning to this image for all of us, Marisa. Thank you, as always, for your insights.
Guest 01-Jul-2007 16:06
This image is so wonderful! You are right about the light and shadow and how to highlight the light here. It makes the photograph -and the monument itself- even more touching. I have the feeling that the light -in its daily travel- remarks the grief and isolation of each of the members of this family.
Anyway, you know that I always try to catch the good from the bad. The tree in the right side reminds me with the tree of life and wisdom. And allow me to think -or believe, maybe- that from the path of life we all have the chance to be reborn, even from the most painful experiences. The tree is a connection to the life and its own natural cycles, life and death. But in this case, we have a tree full of leaves, meaning life flowing in the veins. In a way, the mother's memories will live and stay in their children's veins, in the deep core of their life and soul. And that is one the most wonderful gifts that life can give us.
Phil Douglis31-Mar-2005 06:12
You hit the nail on the head here, Benchang. I often shoot works of art, recreating them as artistic expressions of my own. Is this ethical? I have no problem with it. I am using the my choices in light, time, and space to reinterpret what another artist has expressed, giving it new meaning in the process. That's exactly what I did here, with the help of a sun that was illuminating all the right places. I am not a sculptor. I am a photographer. I am honoring the sculptor by making his art express itself within an entirely different medium.
Benchang Tang 31-Mar-2005 02:50
Art of re-creation!
Phil Douglis27-Feb-2005 05:07
Glad you are moved by this picture, Norah. Visual shock, as you put it, is often triggered by incongruity. I have a whole gallery on that subject alone. And touching the heart is often done because of the human values involved in an image, and I have an entire gallery on that subject as well. I hope you will spend time in both. As for this issue, I interpret another artists work by using the interplay of light and shadow. Thank you for calling a master in capturing statues. (My wife says that's because they never move and never talk back!) I have an entire gallery devoted to expressing ideas in metal and stone, as well. Enjoy.
Guest 20-Feb-2005 01:53
Phil, I think you are a master in capturing statue. To me the most important thing of good picture is visional shock and the first touch in my heart. If I haven't read the comments, I may never notice that part in the darkness. The tree and two kids in the light let me feel peaceful. The tone of the statue in the light is also very nice.
Phil Douglis03-Jan-2005 02:49
Thank you, Nut, for this excellent summary. This image expresses meaning on three separate levels. First, of course, is the subject itself. I am photographing a work of art, so the sculptor himself had much to say to begin with. Second, is the effect of the sun on the sculpture at this moment. The way the sun falls on the art tells much of story. And finally, my photograph itself -- which frames the subject so as to limit your view to just those parts of the sculpture I want you to see. In other words, Nut, I've cropped the art, to make new art of it. I have also used my camera to expose for those highlights you mention, letting the rest of the image get darker than it actually looked in life. As for the message, your view is pretty much my own. Yet each viewer will find their own story in it. That is what expressive photography does.
nut 02-Jan-2005 12:42
A boy in the highlight, on my right hand is thinking and missing his mom. A small boy in his mom arm might be represent himself (a boy in the highlight). I feel sad and feel like he miss his mother, miss the warmth in her arms. This is what I feel here.
Phil Douglis02-Nov-2004 17:48
If you want linkage, here, Zebra, consider this: the mother has died. She is gone. The children still live. The mother is dark. She is no longer there for them. But they still love her and can feel her presence. Now look at that picture again, and tell me how you feel about it.
Guest 02-Nov-2004 16:21
Phil,it puzzled me greatly.

There are two parts in this embossment.One is mother and two baby hold in her arms,the other one is the child asking his older brother questions.Two parts are linked by the line of sight.But in this shot,mother's eye is in dark,no link.

Zebra
Phil Douglis11-Dec-2003 18:48
Thanks, Jill. The interplay of shadow and light is at the center of photographic expression. Shadows hide and light reveals, and the mind of the viewer responds to both. My good friend Tim May explains how this interplay affected his sense of this photograph in the comment just before yours. I hope that you will use light and shadow more extensively to shape meaning in your own fine imagery.
Jill11-Dec-2003 13:45
Yet another lesson learned today Phil. Like the interaction of light and dark.
Phil Douglis10-Dec-2003 00:11
Yes, Tim, the play of light definitely influences the message of this image. That is what was so fascinating to me about this subject -- the artist had his or her message, and my photograph, depending upon time of day and the angle of the light, has its message. Your interpretation regarding life "going on" for those children in the light, is certainly valid. As are your thoughts about the children in the shadows. Thanks.
Tim May09-Dec-2003 23:25
Two of the children are in the light and two not. I wonder how the two in the shadow feel? It seems also appropriate to me that the mother is in the shadow - fading into history while the children go on.
Phil Douglis01-Sep-2003 19:30
Denise -- thanks for give this issue your vote of confidence. As I said in the caption, it was the interplay of light and shadow that drew me to this monument in the first place, and I wanted to do justice to its haunting theme. I am fascinated by how such monuments as this communicate their message. I try to interpret them photographically, expressing my own point of view on them in the process.
Denise Dee01-Sep-2003 15:24
voted for this one as well. stunning! i could happily spend a few hours in your galleries. thanks, denise
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