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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty: Controlling perspective with the wideangle lens > Tangerines, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2005
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22-JAN-2005

Tangerines, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2005

The 24mm wideangle lens is a favorite tool of photojournalists. To me, expressive travel photography is a form of photojournalism. My goal is make a picture that tells a story, and few lenses are as effective storytellers as true wideangle lenses. I simply could not work without one. In this case I am expressing the frustration of those who must sit all day in a market and sell their products for a pittance. The hands of those involved in it tell the story. Using my Canon G6 at waist level, and looking down into a flip up LCD viewing screen, I was able to unobtrusively move in between these two customers to shoot down on the two women doing the selling, choosing a tight, intimate vantage point, yet embracing the entire story within the scope of a wideangle lens. (Something I could not do as unobtrusively if I had been working with a DSLR!) One of them sits sullenly, watching the transaction that is going down over her shoulder. The woman doing the selling is thrusting a bag of tangerines at her customer, who already has two bags of them in her basket. With her other hand, she holds her head. She is either very tired or bored with her job. Because of the optics of the wideangle lens, the hand holding out the bag appears to be larger than the other hand. It is also slightly blurred. The woman at right counts out her money deliberately, keeping the bored tangerine seller waiting. Meanwhile, the customer’s son uses his hand to stuff a slice of tangerine into his mouth. You, the viewer, are stuck in the middle of this transaction. You ride on the shoulders of these customers, and stare into the faces of those disinterested and perhaps frustrated vendors. I anchor the image with a foreground layer featuring the shopping basket and the masses of tangerines on the ground. The two frustrated vendors become the middle ground layer. And the empty street, symbolizing a scarcity of customers, becomes the background layer, adding context for additional meaning. To embrace such a story as this, I have thrust myself into the midst of the transaction itself, and with a 24mm wideangle lens stressed the story the hands are telling us.

Canon PowerShot G6
1/320s f/4.0 at 7.2mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis07-May-2005 23:32
Glad you see the function of the empty street here, Ruthie. It provides, as you say, context and counterpoint for the sense of crowding I wanted to convey with this image. It also symbolizes, as I said in my caption, a scarcity of customers.

Intimacy, tension, discomfort, pressure, its all here, because I moved in as close as I could to this scene to draw you into it. Yet here you stand, trapped, with no place to go, while all that empty space beckons just above them. You are also right about the social hierarchy expressed here as well. Those who are high in the frame demand service from those who are low. This image has encouraged you to use your own imagination, feeling the resentment and exhaustion the sellers seem to express at this moment in time. And none of this would have been possible if not for the wideangle lens, used from this close a vantage point.
ruthemily07-May-2005 23:12
one more thought. by having the subjects of the photo right in the bottom half of the frame, you bring them right up close to us. that adds to the uncomfort. it's like i want to step back and get the situation out of my face.
ruthemily07-May-2005 18:31
my first thought when i saw this one -- why all the empty space? you have "squashed" the actors into the lower half of the frame. but now i see why. it adds intimacy and tension. i almost feel uncomfortable as i look at the image, because it really is like i am a part of the scene. i can feel that girl's frustration as she hands over the bag of tangerines, seemingly ignored by the woman who is buying them, who, like Celia mentioned, is not only physically above her, but has an air that she is socially above her too. she doens't need to sell tangerines for a living, she can afford to fill that basket with several bags of them and walk off home. what you said about the empty space emphasizing the empty street and scarcity of customers makes a lot of sense to me too. i think that also helps to add tension. this girl has no choice but to bear with this seemingly rude lady's behaviour, because she knows it is the only bit of money she may make for a while.
Phil Douglis05-Mar-2005 17:44
You said it all, here Celia. I particularly liked your comment on how the seller seems to be at the mercy of her customers. That perspective underscores her gesture, doesn't it? I am a story teller, Celia. And the wideangle lens can be a story-telling lens. But the lens does not work by itself. It requires input from the photographer. Where i stand with it will determine what I will say with it. Yes, it does imply the third dimension of depth, it does put the viewer into the picture, and it does make the seller appear more vulnerable here. But I had to make the lens do this. And that is the role of the photojournalist or visual story teller.
Cecilia Lim05-Mar-2005 17:16
One great thing about wide-angle lenses is that it pulls you into the picture with its exaggerated perspective. Photos are 1-dimensional things and it is hard to create an impactful 3-dimensional feel in them. However, you show us that these types of lenses can draw you in with its stressed lines pf perspective and create more intimacy between the viewer and the subject. This image makes us feel like we are right there shopping for tangerines. This lens stresses depth and height, and makes the tangerine seller appear to be positioned even far lower than the standing buyer who makes her wait while she counted her money. With the seller sitting so far below, it really stresses the fact that she is literally at the mercy of her good customers. Her livelihood depended on them. It appears that wide-angle lenses help to exaggerate ideas and emotions too! This is a lovely piece of photojournalistic story-telling Phil!
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