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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirteen: Bringing Fresh Visions to Tired Clichés > Point Loma Harbor, San Diego, California, 2004
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17-APR-2004

Point Loma Harbor, San Diego, California, 2004

Another way to avoid the standard sunset cliché (which we all love to take) is to shoot the effect of the sunset instead of photographing the sunset itself. In this shot, taken from Point Loma Harbor opposite downtown San Diego, the sun is at my back. It illuminates the cloud overhead, which in turn reflects on the water. Two other factors work for me here: the shaded skyline abstracts the city – it’s there, but it does not compete with the delicate golden colors in the cloud and on the water. And the gull I happened to catch has just broken free of the clouds and soars against a clear blue sky. I know – this shot comes very close to the line between cliché and non-cliché, but I’m a sucker for the gull in the sky shot. Yet this gull works because it is so small, and does not conflict with the beauty of scene. It brings an extra touch of the sea to this image, and that’s what a harbor scene is all about.

Leica Digilux 2
1/250s f/4.8 at 22.5mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis19-Apr-2008 03:54
Glad you and the bird found your way home, Cyndy. The dark skies are always a threat, while the golden clouds are always a remedy.
Guest 18-Apr-2008 00:58
But wait...the bird has found a way out!
Guest 18-Apr-2008 00:57
I love the stormy, impending-doom feeling of this. The harbor seems to be stuck between an angry sky and the fiery reflection it casts within the sea. There is no way out.
Phil Douglis24-Feb-2008 03:08
Yes, I want you to become that gull, Vera -- this image, which I made four years ago, remains among my favorites. To become that free flying gull is the ultimate freedom. Interesting enough, you came to this image just after commenting on one of my Burma images that triggered a discussion on the ethics of cloning:http://www.pbase.com/image/40195927

This image offers us another good example of why the practice of arbitrarily altering the facts of an image with cloning is so destructive. The fact that this gull was really flying over those clouds at those moment makes this picture real to me and to my viewers. We see this image and we believe that it represents truth and reality. In fact, the gull represents the moment of truth itself here. On the other hand, if this image were to be made out of parts from two different photographs, it would become a work of fiction, and it would no longer ring true. It would be a cheap trick -- and to pull a trick like that in a travel image such as this would, in my opinion, be unethical. It would be lying to the viewer.
Guest 24-Feb-2008 01:38
I love this photo. As others have discussed with you, the gull is so critical here. When I look at this photo I become the gull with the world spread out below me. Flying free of all the worries we are laden with. Freedom! Flying solo....
Phil Douglis07-Feb-2007 19:43
It is always a treat when someone visits an image that I made a number of years ago. It shows me that the passage of time does not diminish its message. Thanks, Ceci, for appreciating the effect of light on this image. Rather than shoot the setting sun, I chose to shoot the effect of the sun on these clouds and their reflection, creating an atmospheric context for that bird that speaks of both freedom, and as you put it, tidings.
Guest 07-Feb-2007 06:41
What a strange and wondrous shot, with the boats and docks and buildings in the distance seeming to float on ice and threatened by the darkness of the atmospherics -- yet there is clear blue above and warm colors reflecting in the water. I am somehow reminded of Salvador Dali in this image, with the bird a bearer of tidings. It seems more an albatross than a gull, with its large size, further emphasizing for me some kind of allegorical content to this photo, which is more of a painting than something caught on a chip. Most alluring and arresting.
Alberto Quintal 23-Jul-2005 18:16
Excellent!
Phil Douglis18-Jul-2005 20:48
Thanks for this comment -- you show me that this image has affected your imagination, because you say you are waiting for something to move. It is the bird soaring overhead that gives this image its energy and implies movement. I try to show less, and say more, drawing your imagination in with implication rather than description.
Guest 15-Jul-2005 01:36
I have found that bright sunlight against a dark sky or dark buildings always works fine when framed well. Not that I've managed to capture these conditions often, but I've seen many of them. However, none of them tell as much as this one. I could keep looking for a long time, expecting movement of any detail.
Phil Douglis18-Mar-2005 04:17
Thank you for noticing the critical importance of the positioning of the gull here, Catriona. If that gull was sitting on the golden surface of the water, the image would have meant something entirely different. It would have been just another pretty picture. But as you say, placing that soaring gull in that very spot just above the oncoming storm, just as it breaks free of the scene altogether to finds its own destiny, makes a much stronger point than a floating gull would have made. I don't know what was in Anna's mind when she suggested that position, but I would guess that like many traditional photographers, she might have been thinking of effect rather than meaning here. I think she learned a lot from her exchange of comments with me. I hope she now realizes that a nice pool of gold around a floating gull might look nice, but the message of the picture itself would not be as dynamic as what this soaring gull can bring to us. I appreciate your support, and the way you are able to express it, Catriona.
Guest 18-Mar-2005 02:18
I agree with you on this Phil. Removing the gull would really change the meaning of the image and it would become just another 'nice' sunset photo. The gull would also be lost if it were lower to the water, absorbed into the dark background colour. However, the dark colour of the gull against the limited space of blue sky makes the gull a focal point - it was what attracted me to this photo in the first place. I see the gull escaping the coming storm, flyinh high to freedom - not down on the ground with the rest of us!
Phil Douglis15-Aug-2004 01:30
My point is about freedom, breaking loose, and soaring high. So a waterlogged gull would not be the thing for that point, Anna.
Anna Yu14-Aug-2004 18:02
Phil, I'm a sucker for gulls too. Well, actually a sucker for all birds. And animals. And people. Yes, the gull here makes a focal point, but I wish he wasn't so high up, in the water would have been perfect.
A beautiful sunset nonetheless.
http://www.pbase.com/image/32525978
Phil Douglis14-Aug-2004 06:17
Thanks, Anna, for being the first to post a response to this image. As a travel photojournalist, I rarely make images like this. Sunsets are tough challenges, because after awhile, even the best of them can start to look alike. I thought this approach might be less of a cliche than most, and yes, the heavy gray clouds clinging to the horizon offer a strong horizontal base. But the key is the position of the gull, just breaking free of the cloud and soaring into the blue sky. As as I said, purist that I am, I am still a sucker for gulls. At least it offers a focal point, right?
Anna Yu14-Aug-2004 05:51
Yes I've also noticed that the opposite side of the sunset offers excellent warm red lighting. My favorite time for photography. The greyish clouds are an extra bonus here, emphasizing the feeling of horizontal lines.
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