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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Six: Vantage Point makes the difference > From the Cloud, Willemstad, Curacao, 2003
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14-DEC-2003

From the Cloud, Willemstad, Curacao, 2003

This image of a marble angel hovering over a sarcophagus in one of Willemstad’s cemeteries is vantage point driven. An angel presumably comes down from on high, requiring a photographer to get low and shoot up at it. Even more important is the relationship between this angel and the passing cloud. The shape of the cloud suggests a wing, or an arm that is raised in the same manner as the angel’s arm. I took many versions of this shot from this low angle, tilting the camera diagonally to create a corner-to-corner flow and aligning the angel’s arm with the feathery cloud overhead.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/1250s f/7.1 at 15.8mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis19-Oct-2005 21:57
The low vantage point brings the angel down from the sky to hover over a tomb. The fact that it is a marble angel gives the black object its context as a tomb, not a trash bin, as you imply. It's not unusual that you might see the angel with a sense of discomfort. Others, such as Lara sees the low vantage point as making that same angel look "even more divine." Meanwhile, Benchang notes that the sense of weightiness is important to him, and he also notes that the ambiguity of the box and the size of the angel make the image less illustrative and the angel more of an angel. I built this image around the relationship of the angel's wings to the shape of the towering pillar of clouds, which counterbalances the angel. This image is deliberately put together to stress the feeling of the angel coming down from on-high to touch the lid of a tomb. I post my images in these galleries as teaching examples, and as such, the caption is just as important as the image here. It offers adequate context regarding my intentions, and demonstrates the importance of vantage point in expressing idea. I am sorry that you did not "get it" and hope that you might yet be able to learn something of value from this example of expressive vantage point.
Denny Crane 19-Oct-2005 18:17
My immediate feeling is that a heavy statue is about to fall on me, the black object might be a trash bin, and I feel very uncomfortable looking at it. The heavy weight and imbalance of the composition is disturbing, quite the opposite of any ideal image of heavenly angels. I don't get it.
Phil Douglis28-Mar-2005 18:05
Thanks, Benchang, for your comment on this photograph. It was my intention to abstract this image as much as possible by moving in to only show a corner of the coffin as context. You must also realize that ALL of my images are made to work in tandem with my captions. I rarely shoot an image that is intended to speak "on its own." That's because I use my images as teaching examples, and my words are as important as my photographs.

I also like to think that a good part of the meaning of any picture must be supplied by the viewer. I consider my images to be triggers of thought. I want them to activate your emotions, your intellect, and above all your imagination. What you make of it is up to you, not to me. For all these reasons, then, I usually prefer to show less and say more.

I like what you say here about weight -- the glowing angel seems to float because it is detached from its base and as you say, it glows with brightness to dominate the image. I did that by waiting for what seemed to be an eternity (pun intended) for the sun to strike the statue. Whenever the sun dipped behind a floating cloud (which was often), the glow vanished and the statue looked flat. When the sun hit the statue, its light reflects back into the camera, making it lighter than the sky or clouds.

As for the EXIF data on this shot, it does show the time this image was made -- it says it was made at night! Which was obviously not so. The clock in my camera must have been set incorrectly. It happens a lot when I travel. Sorry for that. I also note that sometimes I get EXIF data and sometimes I don't. It all depends upon how I post process my images. Sometimes Photoshop will strip the data from the camera altogether. I apologize for that kind of thing as well, but the technical ins and outs of the EXIF process are well beyond my understanding, I do not concern myself with them. If you ever have an EXIF related, or for that matter, any question about any of my images, just ask me and I will do my best to tell you how and when I made it.
Benchang Tang 28-Mar-2005 10:21
I noticed two things here. One is that there is a triangle with the hand of the angel as the top, as you said the hand aligns with the clouds, and this gves the picture a good weight. In my view weightness is impotant in a picture. Another is that the best use of the picture space with the positioning of the motif and without the caption I cannot tell what the black box is and how big the angel is and in this way the picture is less illustrative and the angel is more an angel. Hope I tell what I mean. An expressive picture! I am not clear how did you manage that the angel is almost higher lighted than the sky. If we can read the time that the picture is taken in Exif it would be better for us learners.
Lara S08-Jul-2004 02:33
Nice. Phil. Funny how taking it from a low angle makes the angel look even more divine, esp as you pointed out with the clouds behind him.
Phil Douglis27-Jan-2004 00:37
Thanks, Tim, for the astute comment as always. To answer your question, my cemetery images may seem to be optimistic because I am, by nature an optimistic person, and some of my optimism is bound to rub off in my pictures, one way or another. On the other hand, the people who paid for all those beautiful angels must have been optimistic about their own chances in the next go around as well. You call it "a presence of hope in the face of death," which is fine by me. This angel, for example seems gentle, compassionate, and very much in charge. Has it come for you and me and the rest of us? Perhaps. More than likely, however, it has come for a long departed resident of Willemstad, Curacao. Meanwhile, continue to project your own wishes into my pictures. I welcome them.
Tim May26-Jan-2004 18:31
I almost commented about this image at WorldisRound. For me there is an ambiguity in the angle of the angel. One the one hand, I could just be being benevolently being visited by an angel, but because of the large box in the corner and the steepness of the angle I feel more like I have died and, thankfully, the angel has come for me. I have noticed in all your images of cemeteries in the entire expanse of this latest set of images, a presence of hope in the face of death. Am I projecting my wishes here, are is that a feeling you wish to convey?
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