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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Four: Finding meaning in details > Baroque detail, National Coach Museum, Belem, Portugal, 2004
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04-SEP-2004

Baroque detail, National Coach Museum, Belem, Portugal, 2004

Belem stands at the mouth of the Tagus River, about four miles outside of Lisbon itself. One of its most popular attractions is the National Coach Museum, containing perhaps the finest collection of royal coaches in Europe. Among the most lavish are the huge coaches, including this one, made in Rome for the Portuguese ambassador to the Vatican. I did not want to photograph the entire coach, between then I would minimize the fantastic details that decorate it. Those details are what make this coach worth visiting, studying, and thinking about. It was very dark inside the museum, and neither flash nor tripods are allowed. (I never use either in my travel photography.) I was able to make this remarkable study of the incredible Baroque detail by handholding my camera set at ISO 200, using a very slow shutter speed of 1/6th of a second. Using my camera’s continuous shooting mode, I only had to press the shutter button once, and just held it down. The first shot was blurred, but the following shots were amazingly sharp, because there was no “shutter squeeze” needed to make them. When looking at this image on my LCD screen, I could see details that I simply could not see with my own eyes in that dark museum. Such is the power of digital imaging.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/6s f/2.2 at 11.2mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis11-Dec-2004 20:18
You are probably right, Nut. Angels are considered to be protectors, and this one no doubt "protected" whoever was once riding in that coach.
nut 11-Dec-2004 18:41
To me, I might wrong. But when I am thinking about Vatican then I have "Pope" imagination in my mind. When I am thinking about Pope than I am thinking
about "God" messager. Here I saw an angel holding a pulpit. So I think an angel might be a protector here and maybe he is represented the one who use
this coach.
Phil Douglis08-Dec-2004 22:38
How did you figure this one out, Nut? Was Pope Clement XI on the Papal Throne when this very coach rolled through the Vatican's gates carrying the Portuguese Ambassador? How do you know? In any event, no Pope is considered to be an angel as far as I know. The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. An angel, as I said earlier, is believed to be a messenger from God.
Phil Douglis08-Dec-2004 22:12
You did your homework again, Nut. You probably know more about High Baroque art than I do now. There is a whole story in these carvings, but I am not able to tell it all to you. I just let the "feeling" of thia art work as part of message, rather than try to express the specific meaning of each carving. As for the meaning of angels, they are considered in religious lore to be divine messengers of God, and sometime a spirit that can protect us or offer guidance. In this case, the presence of angelic symbols on that coach would probably imply that the person within is important enough to have "divine connections," right?
nut 08-Dec-2004 14:59
Pope Clement XI is the angel.
nut 08-Dec-2004 10:04
It's the Baroque art with a passion in design and detail with bring colors and gold trim. It's the Baroque, style of art and architecture in Europe after Renaissance.
Amorino and Cupid have small wings, but Putto doesn't have them. So a naked infant chidren here is Putto or "Baroque Angel".An angel sat on the golden thing
and hold a pulpit. I don't know what is the use of marble or bronze reliefs in the decoration of background here, except to show this came from Rome. What is
the meaning of an angel in Roman art?
Phil Douglis08-Dec-2004 04:35
I can always count on you, Clara, to put my images into a thoughtful and intelligent long-term context. You sum up the role of detail here beautifully by linking it to the need to impress those with fewer resources. Today, we might make the same point by focusing on the grille and hood ornament of a Rolls-Royce. Discretion? It's all relative, Clara. Those social revolutions you speak of may have toned things down a bit on the surface, but we are still materialists at heart.
Guest 07-Dec-2004 21:22
It is very detailed. The upper classes always need to impress the folk. Now they are more discrete than in the time of the coach, not in vain we've gone through several social revolutions, humankind.
Phil Douglis30-Nov-2004 23:30
Glad to help you on this, Clara. Welcome to my galleries and come often to learn!
Guest 24-Nov-2004 17:22
Phil, thanks for teaching me this
that continuous shoot allows to shoot
with low light slow speed without tripod or flash
I did not think about using the second or third shot.
Much thanks! Clara
Phil Douglis22-Nov-2004 16:06
I am delighted that you now understand this picture, Jen, and that its details and colors now mean so much to you. You have learned how importance context can be in understanding the meaning of a photograph, and that is a lesson you can carry with you always as a photographer, a reader of pictures, and as one of my favorite critics. Thank you for taking the time to be so critical of this picture and then learn so much from our exchange of comments.
Jennifer Zhou22-Nov-2004 15:25
Phil,
I looked so hard at it only as a thing which I expected to be moved by. However, there is another way to make expressive photo that I didn't know.

To show something particular in that period of history, to take me along to a ride with ambassador of Portugal, I even experience a bit power and importance of my own...It is amazing after I see through the surface and give my heart, even myself(I mean a ride with ambassador) to picture, I feel everything.

When I criticize on this picture I know you must have your reasons making it, and you never let me down! Thank you for helping me to see through the surface, to let me know how important to understand the context, and teach me another kind of expressive photograph.

The tip for photographing in the dark is also useful, by the way I don't like flash either.

Also I aways look at the original size to see all the details of your picutre and I also make them my desktop picture so I can see it all in one frame----your original size is bigger than my size of monitor, but I can fit the picture perfectly to my desktop. And I have a new desktop everyday! :)

Jen
Phil Douglis21-Nov-2004 20:38
Thanks, Jen, for looking objectively at this image. The reason you do not react emotionally to this picture is because that is not my purpose for making it, or for including it in this gallery. A picture, or any work of art, for that matter, need not stir your emotions -- that "strong feeling" you mention -- to be expressive. It is wonderful when a picture can have an emotional impact on you, but not ALL expressive images must do this to be successful. If an image at least makes your MIND respond in a useful way, I consider it to be expressive. And in my view, this one does just that, Jen, and here's why.

I made this picture to emphasize the details that make this work of art, a work of art. This coach is a rolling expression of "Divine Royal Power", Jen. The guy who once rode in this coach considered himself to be riding among the "Gods!" He was the Ambassador of the King of Portugal, one of the most powerful men in the world. It was his job to symbolize the power of that king to the power of another great authority -- the Pope himself! These golden figures represent Portugal's importance, and were placed on this coach to impress the Pope and his court with Portugal's own authority. Keeping this context in mind, when you look at these details again, I hope that they will make you stop to at least think for a moment about the importance of such symbols as these, and how they have been used through the centuries to represent power and importance to others.

I also hope that you will look at this image again by clicking on "original," because when pbase displays my pictures in anything less than their "original" size, both detail and contrast -- which you have faulted here -- are compromised. When viewed in the "original" size, the golds pop out from the reds with great contrast, and the incredible craftsmanship of the artists who carved these figures and placed them together on the front of this coach comes through to us with exquisite detail.

If you are able to objectively open your mind to think about the importance of symbols through history, as well as admire the sheer beauty of those symbols that I reveal to you through these details, Jen, this image might express meaning to you that you perhaps missed the first time around. I hope this picture will then function more effectively as an expressive image for you.

I also posted this picture in my galleries to show that we don't need to poison our images with the unnatural light of a flash in order to be able to make a picture in very dark places with a digital camera. Although I teach expression in my galleries, rather than technical methods, there are times where a technique may be critical to expression. And it is here! How can we hold a camera steady enough to make a picture as sharp as this one is at 1/6th of a second when the existing light is very dark? By using the "continuous shooting" mode, I was able to capture detail that i could not even see in front of me with my own eyes. But my digital camera did! And so I use this particular image to also teach an important lesson in technique. (If you read Bruce Berrien's comment at the very bottom, you will see that this tip was apparently of great value to him.)

Given these reasons, do you now agree that this image is a valuable addition to this gallery on detail? What lessons have your learned from it? Or do you still consider this image as not expressive, and unworthy of a place in this gallery? Let me know, Jen.
Jennifer Zhou21-Nov-2004 12:48
Phil, I like your last picture because of its intimate feelings, however, I don't feel any of that in this picture. Maybe I wasn't with you in the museum, and compare to the huge hall you were really working on the details, but somehow I don't have a very strong feeling for this picture.

The colors also disturb me. Both red and golden are too rich and warm, there is no contrast between colors and my eyes don't have the excitement when looking at it.

Jen
Phil Douglis29-Sep-2004 04:04
Thanks, Bruce. As you can see, it worked here. It requires a lot of practice to hold the camera this steady, even when you are not pushing any buttons.
Guest 29-Sep-2004 00:30
Phil - you are brilliant! Your description of how you obtained this image is a must read. And a "must-try". Thank you!
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